Actually have some good talk tonight, about family dynamics, later in life marriages, and trolleys. Lots of stuff about trolleys, and their problems. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
Would you exchange ten years of your life for worldwide fame? –Cawfee
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I realized later that the “Danny Kaye” thing I was thinking of was actually a Donald O’Conner thing, “Make ‘Em Laugh” from 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain:
Be a Clown is from The Pirate with Gene Kelly in 1948:
My friend Louis was in that first season of “Anything But Love.” He played the editor of the magazine.
For real? You know so many movie/TV stars! Your dad, this guy…
Did you grow up in LA?
Nope. I think it’s ’cause so many members of my family have been involved in the entertainment world in one way or another. And then they wind up knowing people, who know people…
This is the connection that leads to my knowing Louis. My Dad met the producer Dave Friedman when the movie “The Greatest Show on Earth” was made (’cause my Dad was a sideshow talker). When my Dad was no longer with the Ringling Show (he and my Mom ran away from the circus to get married–her Dad wouldn’t have allowed it), Dave offered him a job going around the country being the “Doctor” who would give talks before these sex-ed movies, which would be followed by selling booklets (“What Every Father Should Tell His Son”) which is how they made money. I think I told that story before. (Dave is also the guy who hired my Dad for “Blood Feast” and “Color Me Blood Red.”
Anyway, my Dad made friends with the guy who was working the box office at a theatre they played in New York named Mort Chalfy (who now writes Sci Fi and does live in LA). Mort’s younger brother Fred came and stayed summers during his college years with my family when we had settled in Sarasota. Fred’s best friend from college also came down and stayed with us at various points–and that was Louis.
Here’s one of my favorite Louis stories. He’s a very high energy guy. He was working for my Dad when right out of college. I had been having a very tough summer. I was going through a depression but my parents had no idea of how to handle it and had basically done nothing. Then in the Fall my Dad had taken a crew out to put up Christmas decorations at Malls (this was the most current family-run business). When they got back, my Dad invited a bunch of them over for dinner. I was pretty zoned out and not talking very much. So Louis sees me and lifts me into the air, and says, “You are not giving this child enough Wine!” Then he sits me in his lap and tickles me, and asks me if I want a sip of wine. Somehow this reengaged me. And then of course I developed an ENORMOUS crush on him. (I was 11.)
Fred’s son, Dylan, who I used to babysit for, is also an actor (Dylan Chalfy). He most recently had a bit part in “Orange is the New Black,” but he mostly works in theater.
(It occurs to me that this story might, in some ways, illustrate the problem with the Trolley scenario.)
Your parents ran AWAY from the circus to get married??? OMG, how am I just hearing about this???
Yeah, my maternal grandfather was Chinese and very strict/abusive with his kids, especially the girls. By abusive, I mean that when they failed to perform a move correctly (they were acrobats) they got hit with a bamboo rod, and they had to perform even when they were ill or injured. The daughters were not allowed to go anywhere on their own without a male member of the family and were supposed to have arranged marriages. My Mom would have her brother take her to the movies and then would bribe him to go away and pick her up later. That’s how she met me Dad. They eventually eloped, and my grandfather sent the police after them, but since my Mom was 21 they couldn’t do anything. I actually didn’t meet my grandparents until I was about 9 because it took a long time to reconcile.
During the utilitarian discussion, it occurred to me that people are occasionally faced with these decisions, beyond the dramatic. Think of all the single-issue voters out there, even before this last election, who vote either with the many or the few/one having reconciled one (or few) key issues against any list of potential cons.
As a political example beyond the US, I know many people who are now single-issue Liberal Democrat voters, purely because the party officially opposes the UK leaving the European Union. That’s despite the LibDems having helped implement lousy policy (from a liberal’s point of view) while they were in a coalition government with the Tory party from 2010-2015. The famous one, which almost ended the political career of the then LibDem leader, was the u-turn on agreeing to policy on university fees, having stood for a picture next to students holding a piece of paper pledging to never raise student fees.
There’s probably a spectrum of “trolley dilemmas” that we deal with all the time.
Knock that shit off! You’re American now. 😛