Pop Culture Reunion: National Lampoon's Vacation

It's hard to believe nearly 30 years have passed since the first "National Lampoon's Vacation" movie premiered.  I watched that film over and over as a kid, and I think it struck a chord with many kids of that era, with the family road trip being a common occurrence for many American families (at least those who weren't separated due to divorce).  That, combined with endless reruns on cable made the original film an enduring piece of American pop culture.

I think of Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road" song whenever I get in the car to go on vacation myself.  You can listen to that classic song below, or by visiting https://youtu.be/KsYqIJqlPNc:


I first saw Beverly D'Angelo in the 1979 movie "Hair" (I watched it as one of the perpetual movie reruns on cable), but was the place I first saw her so when she appeared as Ellen Griswold on "Vacation", I already knew her.  Indeed, she had a major role in "Hair".  But as I already noted, Beverly D'Angelo is perhaps best known for her role as Ellen Griswold in the National Lampoon's "Vacation" franchise and has been acting (steadily) for decades.  She began on stage, appearing on Broadway in 1976 in "Rockabye Hamlet", which was a musical rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet.  Needless to say, it wasn't a Tony Award-winner, but it was a good place to start working as an actress.

She used that experience to move into film acting.  Technically, she was featured in a minor role in "Annie Hall" in 1977 (which I never saw), but she appeared in a string of hits in the late 1970's, including "Every Which Way But Loose", "Hair", as well as "Coal Miner's Daughter", which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Patsy Cline, as well as a Country Music Association award for Album of the Year.  Without a doubt, her best-known role was as wife to Clark W. Griswold in 1983's "National Lampoon's Vacation", a role she would reprise in several sequels.

Her "Vacation" co-star, Chevy Chase, began on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" during it's formative years (along with John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and others).  Like other SNL castmembers of the era, many moved into Hollywood films and/or TV shows, with 1980's "Caddyshack" seen as his breakout film.  Like Beverly D'Angelo, Mr. Chase has kept working steadily even as many of his SNL cast members have slowed down.

To be sure, the Beverly D'Angelo and Chevy Chase are perhaps the only castmembers which have remained consistent for the films' entire run, although Randy Quaid played Cousin Eddie in most (excluding "European Vacation") of the others.  However, the children have been different in each film.

For example, the original Rusty Griswold was played by John Hughes' film alumni Anthony Michael Hall, who would later move away from acting to film producing instead (although he did return to the screen portraying Bill Gates in the 1999 television film "Pirates of Silicon Valley".  He was age 13 when "Vacation" filmed.  Other notable actors to play that same role include Johnny Galecki (who played Rusty in "Christmas Vacation"), perhaps best known for his role on "Roseanne" and more recently, on "Big Bang Theory".  Other notable guests from the original film include "30 Rock" star Jane Krakowski, who played Cousin Vicki (the slutty girl who admitted that her father said she French-kissed the best).

There have also been a few cast members that have died, most notably was the actress who played Audrey Griswold in "European Vacation", played by a well-known child actress during the 1970s-1980s named Dana Hill.  She passed away from a stroke at age 32 in 1996.  The other was legendary comedic actress from screen and TV Imogene Coca who played Aunt Edna in the original movie.  She died in 2001.  Many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers may recall Imogene Coca from her memorable guest appearances on TV sitcoms including two appearances on "Bewitched" as Mary the Tooth Fairy, as well as on "The Brady Bunch" playing Aunt Jenny, whom Jan worried she would grow up to look like based on a childhood photo of Aunt Jenny.

Regardless, reuniting the original cast of "Vacation" was something that seemed destined to happen at some point.  Although the "Vacation" movies air quite frequently, getting the original cast together was never really a priority for the film series' producers, but during the holidays of 2012, D'Angelo and Chase appeared in some TV commercials for Old Navy.  The spots were cute, and seemed to target Gen Xers sense of nostalgia.  Those clips can be viewed on YouTube at http://youtu.be/CBmvluvhNG8, http://youtu.be/IJszrRIBbpQ and http://youtu.be/nEBGC62pjwA.

However, we can thank Entertainment Weekly ("EW"), for actually reuniting the very original cast in 2012 (except for Imogene Coca).  The link to EW's reunion page can be seen at:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/10/04/vacation-reunion-chevy-chase/

The video, however, can be viewed below, or by visiting ABC's Good Morning America at http://abcn.ws/SzDFX2 or YouTube at http://youtu.be/oo-KVrdrp80:


I'm glad EW organized this cast reunion, but I have to admit that seeing the full cast together again doesn't stir the same kind of memories that some of the reunions I've featured have for me.  I think it's because "Vacation" has been on the air perpetually and Beverly and Chevy remain like a virtual husband and wife.  However, seeing everyone 30 years later is interesting.  Chevy Chase's hair (what's left of it) is decidedly greyer.  Beverly D'Angelo, thanks to the Hollywood youth-perpetuation machine, has aged pretty well.  The kids look kind of like many Gen Xers do ... middle-aged.

I have to wonder how family vacations have changed since then ... are road trips as big as they once were, or has flying the family down to Orlando for a week during winter become standard operating procedure for Americans outside the sunbelt?

Author P.S., September 16, 2014:  While Americans have seen a number of National Lampoon's "Vacation" movies, including sequels including "European Vacation", "Christmas Vacation" and "Vegas Vacation" among others, and more recently some of the cast have done TV advertisements for retailer Old Navy, but there was news recently that a reboot of the original "Vacation" movie from New Line Cinemas is in the works (see http://bit.ly/XcmP5M and http://bit.ly/XQIwcQ).  It will be focused on son Rusty taking his own children on a family vaction, and reportedly the reboot has already been cast including Ed Helms as Rusty, and Christina Applegate has signed up to play Rusty's wife.  Parents Clark Griswold (played by Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo) are slated to reprise their roles in brief cameos in the movie.

There will also be sister Audrey in the film and her husband.  Its unclear what kind of audience the reboot will attract, or how successful it will be.  While they've already managed to recruit a pretty good cast, and the story provides enough to work with, its unclear whether the appeal of the original will be usurped.  But its an interesting idea for a reboot!

Newspapers: Are They Evolving, or Devolving?

In the 1990s, my hometown newspaper ("The Sentinel") which I delivered to my neighbors as a kid, was acquired by a larger daily newspaper.  Before long, virtually all of the journalists and editorial staff were let go, and the paper ceased to exist, instead being folded into the bigger daily publication which promised "improved" local coverage under the new arrangement.  Needless to say, the local coverage after being folded into the other paper was practically non-existent, and if the paper has one article a week about the town where my parents live, that would be a huge deal.  Most people in town voted with their dollars, subscribing to a different daily paper which had better local coverage.

Then, in 2009, The Sentinel was resurrected.  A brand new version, completely digital, emerged.  The get it off the ground, several grant foundations helped pay for the initial expenses.  The editor is based locally.  They learn of stories the way local newspapers did once upon a time (the old way), by hearing about things from townspeople, attending town meetings, etc. although they do use new tools, too.

According to my parents, the local coverage is far better than the big city daily that acquired the old paper.   Although my parents live in an area that has 3 larger daily papers covering the region, along with several weeklies that cover the town, there's something to be said for getting the news as it happens, and the new version has the added benefit of coverage as the news happens.

The Switcheroo

Much has been written about the death of newspapers.

A lot of articles seem to suggest that technology is primarily responsible for the death of much of the newspaper industry, suggesting that electronic publishing is the wave of the future.

However, that's a bit of a misrepresentation of the facts.

Yes, many newspapers are struggling these days, and the industry is in a profound, seemingly neverending crisis.  But the death isn't due to smartphones, its because the underlying business model changed.  The thing that once paid their bills was advertising, and local newspaper advertising is struggling as companies like Google now offer the ability to target residents of a given city with local advertising, and giant online sites like Craig's List gobble up local classified ad dollars.  Indeed, during one quarter last year, more than three-fourths of Google's profits were derived from advertising.

Indeed, at least one major U.S. city's daily newspaper has figuratively stopped publishing: in the fall of 2012, the parent company of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Newhouse Media, stopped printing old-fashioned newspapers (see http://nyti.ms/NZyvCZ for more), turning New Orleans into the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper (although a number of smaller cities have already gone that route).  I suspect New Orleans won't hold that title forever.

To be sure, The New Orleans Times-Picayune hasn't completely disappeared, but you won't find any copies on local newsstands anymore.  To read it, you'll need a computer, tablet device or smartphone (the news of it's digital migration can be read online, visit http://bit.ly/JUKFfg for details).  The Times-Picayune had won Pulitzer's for it's photography of the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina.

Most of the journalists and editors for the Times-Picayune were "let go".

New Orleans is unique in that the city celebrates death like few other locations on earth. Needless to say, when the last print edition of the Times-Picayune rolled off the presses, there was a big party.  But it wasn't really a celebration, it was more like a memorial service.  With a staff of more than 200 employees, ranging from reporters to the guys who operated the printing presses all losing their jobs, just WHO is gathering the news stories for the new Times-Picayune is unclear.  Critics say the coverage isn't what it used to be, and few believe there will be more Pulitzer's for the publication.


But as John McQuaid editorialized for Forbes (see http://onforb.es/KitGzS) wrote:

This sounds ... sort of okay. But while there's a lot on corporate reorganization, there’s nothing on how this will work in practice. "Combining the award-winning journalism of The Times-Picayune and the strength of NOLA.com" is basically what they've been doing, or trying to, for years now. And that signals a problem, because it hasn't worked all that well.

So, if the business model is dead, a few organizations believe they've found a way to make it work ... sort of.

On June 29, 2012, NPR's "This American Life" producer Sarah Koenig reported on a company called Journatic [formerly at http://journatic.com/], that claimed to be producing local journalism in a new way.  What was their secret? They hired people in the Philippines to write about local news in small towns across the U.S.  Churning out content with no context.

They noted that an article at Poynter.org added details to the story.  You may listen to the story below, or by visiting This American Life's website at http://bit.ly/MYuf2q:

They talked in the story about a Chicago suburb known as Flossmore.  Journatic and its client Tribune Local claimed Flossmore didn't have any local coverage.  But that was not true, either.  Flossmore had a weekly known as The Southtown Star.

The NPR story closes with an appropriate question:

"Is it really journalism?"

Judge for yourself.

Author P.S., August 16, 2013:  Hyper-local news was seen as a way for companies to make a killing as hometown newspapers disappeared nationwide.  Unfortunately, even big players have not found that to be a revenue generator.  The NPR program "On the Media" featured a segment called "Patchy".  That comes from Patch, which was supposed to be AOL's hyper-local reporting site.  Unfortunately, Patch announced it was cutting its staff of 1,100 nearly in half.  Brooke Gladstone talked with the Wall Street Journal's Keach Hagey about what that development means for local reporting and about AOL CEO Tim Armstrong's snap firing of an employee during a Patch-wide conference call.  Listen to that by visiting http://www.wnyc.org/story/312949-patchy.




Syndicated Advice Columnist Dear Abby Dies

While I'm on the subject of newspapers, we lost a cultural icon a few weeks ago:  Pauline Phillips, who wrote a popular syndicated newspaper column under the pen-name "Dear Abby" (Abigail Van Buren), who died on January 16, 2013.  Her real name was Pauline Esther Phillips and she died at age 94, although she had been ill for a number of years with Alzheimer's disease.

Speaking of her mother, daughter Jeanne Phillips wrote:

"Over the past quarter century, Alzheimer's disease has stolen away bit by bit her remarkable intellect, but she battled her illness with courage and dignity. She was my best friend who can never be replaced." She signed off as Jeanne Phillips, aka Grieving in Minneapolis. The strength of "Abby" gave way to the human vulnerability and grief which all Alzheimer's Disease families share.  In that letter, Jeanne also gave special recognition and thanks to her mother's long time caregivers who tended to Pauline 24/7 for over 11 years, a task certainly not all are cut out for.

In fact, Pauline had not been writing the column for a while.  In December of 2000, Pauline's daughter, Jeanne, now age 70 herself, joined her mother in her work.  Then, in August of 2002 the Phillips family announced that Pauline had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and Jeanne officially took over the role and title of "Dear Abby" since her mother was unable to manage the responsibility in her later years.  Today, the "Dear Abby" column is carried on by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who owns the legal rights to the pen-name "Dear Abby".

Pauline Esther Phillips (Dear Abby) and sister Esther "Eppie" Lederer (Ann Landers)

For a period in the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, Pauline and her twin sister Esther "Eppie" Lederer, wrote a very similar syndicated column under the pen-name "Ann Landers", dishing out very similarly-themed letters from the public along with their terse responses.  Pauline's sister Eppie passed away in June 2002.  At the time of Eppie's passing, her daughter Margo Howard said that the "Ann Landers" column would end in accordance with her last wishes.

The Brady Bunch: Harried and Hopeless

The "Dear Abby" column really became a pop culture icon.

It was featured (under the name "Dear Libby") on "The Brady Bunch" in which the newly-blended family reads the "Dear Libby" advice column in the newspaper in which an anonymous person is in the same situation as Mike and Carol, but the person is unhappy, leading Marcia to conclude that either Mike or Carol wrote the letter. She later shows the article to the other kids and they devise a plot to keep their newly formed family together.  The advice columnist's name was changed to "Libby" to avoid copyright issues (that particular episode can be watched online at http://www.tv.com/shows/the-brady-bunch/watch/dear-libby-4630/), although the most relevant part of the whole episode was at the end, in which the columnist visits the Brady household to respond to seven letters she received from the same address.  That clip can be viewed below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/HmNKdBntasc:



Dear Abby Endures As Newspaper Publishing Changes

"Dear Abby", however, has continued, and it remains one of the most-widely syndicated columns published (her daughter Jeanne Phillips continues the tradition), yet the newspaper industry has changed significantly during that time.

But readership for syndicated columns like "Dear Abby" aren't what they used to be.  For the record, "Dear Abby" has an "official" website where you can read the column online at:

http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby

NPR featured a nice remembrance of this American newspaper legend.

Remembering Pauline Phillips, A Woman With A Sharp Pen, http://n.pr/WG75lS:

CALM Act: Congress Re-Regulates Practice the FCC Deregulated in the 1980s

At one time, I honestly thought that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibited television advertisers from allowing the volume on television commercials from being much louder than that of the programming (I seem to recall a mention of it in a college communications and/or marketing course), and that may have been true up until the roll-back-all-the-regulations 1980s.  However, since that time, I think the problem of excessively loud TV commercials had became so pervasive and routine, that massive, routine complaints to lawmakers of all political persuasions and the FCC really forced Congressional lawmakers to re-regulate this highly annoying practice.

Indeed, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps said "I cannot tell you how many hundreds of citizens have told me — personally, through emails and letters, at public hearings, even across the family dinner table — how obnoxiously intrusive they find loud commercials."

That prompted a new law called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act to be passed, which very recently took effect. President Obama actually signed the bill into law back in 2010, but for a variety of reasons, it FINALLY took effect on Thursday, December 13, 2012.  NBC's Today Show reported about the CALM Act going into effect.

The CALM Act comes more than a year after Congress actually passed legislation regarding commercial volume and directed the FCC to come up with enforcement rules. The architect of the bill was Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Menlo Park, California), who pushed for the legislation after hearing complaints about loud commercials from her very own family.  The press release for the implementation of bipartisan CALM Act can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/media/policy/loud-commercials.

The FCC says that cable and satellite TV companies as well as local broadcasters are now required to make sure the volume on commercials is kept in check. The new rules went into effect on December 21, 2012.

It's not just viewers who were pushing for this legislation.  The L.A. Times reported that television producers also often griped about the discrepancies between the sound of commercials and of their programming.

"It may be the single best thing government has ever done," said "Modern Family" co-creator Steve Levitan told the L.A. Times (see http://lat.ms/X2zW26 for the article). "Now if they could just mute the volume of political ads, I'd be thrilled."

Some people have looked for technology to automatically level the sound, but many of the devices sold were pure junk and were little more than a costly and unnecessary add-on to an entertainment system that already has far too many wires to begin with.

In late December 2012, WNYC's "On The Media" program featured an entire show about that new CALM Act law, speaking to The Wall Street Journal's Elizabeth Williamson who explained to Bob why regulators weren't able to turn down the volume of commercials until now.  It's definitely worth having a look at, and that radio program can be seen at http://www.wnyc.org/story/238183-loudness-wars/.

The CALM Act effectively reverses the FCC's deregulation of commercial volume resulting in ever louder ads.  Penn State Telecommunications and Law professor Rob Frieden put it this way in his blog (see http://goo.gl/aYQa3 for his write-up):

"The unregulated marketplace for commercial volume led to an upward spiral, unmitigated by any notion of marketplace self-regulation."

Now, broadcasters, cable TV operators and satellite broadcasters are required by law to ensure that commercials and program content sound the same.  If the problem doesn't get better, complaints about excessively loud TV commercials can (and should) be filed by using the online complaint form to the FCC, known as form 2000G, at http://www.fcc.gov/complaints, and then selecting "Broadcast (TV and Radio), Cable, and Satellite Issues" and following the instructions to file such a complaint.

Penn State's Rob Frieden suggested this was really a function of an industry that was unable to police itself and therefore brought the consequences upon itself, writing:

"Congress reached a better solution: Regulation in the face of the inability of broadcasters to resist the temptation to offer advertisers a sneaky opportunity to 'cut through the clutter' by raising the volume of their spots.  Of course the advantage proved short term when more and more commercials got louder and louder."

He also notes that the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, something almost unheard of in Congress these days.  In my opinion, there are probably more a few other industries that were once deregulated that now need re-regulation because they cannot be trusted to do the right thing for anyone other than their shareholders and, in turn, their own wallets.  But at least we can watch TV without adjusting the volume control every time a commercial comes on!

Country Crossover Pioneers: Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

You don't have to be a country music fan to recognize that a handful of country music artists have managed to "crossover" into pop (known sometimes as country pop music).  To be sure, some country fans don't particularly like country crossover artists or their music, and there are also a few pop fans who aren't all that crazy about country crossover music, either.  But if you're a musician (or a record label), it means you're able to sell your music to many, many more people, and effectively become pop culture celebrities in the process.

The country crossover musical genre, if you can believe Wikipedia (see http://goo.gl/BbhBn), first emerged in the 1970s.  There were a few others that crossed over include Jeannie C. Riley with her smash "Harper Valley PTA" released in 1968 which later spawned a movie and short-lived TV series produced by Sherwood Schwartz), and another Lynn Anderson's cover of  "Rose Garden" [a.k.a. "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden"] back in 1970, driven as much by music legend Clive Davis who helped that track reach #3 on the Billboard Top songs back in 1970 (it had already reached #1 in the country music category) as it was Ms. Anderson's vocals.  Then, of course, there was Glen Campbell, who emerged at the same time as Jennie C. Riley did.

Among those leading the way were two country stars who actually did a duette in 1983 called "Islands in the Stream" which was written by the Bee Gees (the title was named after the Ernest Hemingway novel) which proved to be big crossover hit for both Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.  A clip of those two artists performing "Islands in the Stream" can be watched below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/HQW7I62TNOw:



Ms. Parton was perhaps the more successful of the two, achieving success not only in music, but also in the movies, having co-starred in the 1980 box office smash "Nine to Five" along with screen legend Jane Fonda, and TV (best known for her role on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In") star Lily Tomlin, and while that was Dolly Parton's first movie role, she also wrote the theme song to the film, which turned into one of her biggest hits, spending several weeks at number one according to Billboard.

Dolly Parton on People, April 4, 1977

With "Nine to Five", Dolly Parton became the second woman to top both the U.S. country singles chart and Billboard's Hot 100 with the same single (the first was Jeannie C. Riley, who did so with "Harper Valley PTA" in 1968, the song which inspired a 1981-82 TV sitcom produced by Sherwood Schwartz which starred Barbara Eden; Schwartz was best known for "The Brady Bunch" which I wrote about previously, see my posts at http://goo.gl/tE0ur and http://goo.gl/X7dYp for more details).

Those two paved the way for others, including Reba McEntire, and a whole new generation of country crossover artists.  Newbies like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood are moving in the same direction.

At the end of 2012, there were public radio interviews with both Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton which were definitely worth listening to.  In those interviews, we hear a bit more about their remarkable careers and the adventures both have had in becoming mainstream celebrities from what were arguably very humble roots for both artists.

2012 Interview With Kenny Rogers

New York City's NPR station WNYC has a show called "The Leonard Lopate Show" which re-ran an interview with Kenny Rogers from October 2, 2012 at the end of the year.  In that interview, Kenny Rogers talks about making his career in country music and his most memorable songs, including "Lucille," "The Gambler," "Lady," and "Islands in the Stream." His crossover success is best evident by the fact that he was featured as one of the artists who sang "We Are The World" back in the 1980s, catch my post on that by visiting http://goo.gl/i0LLg.  He has a new memoir entitled "Luck of Something Like It" (Amazon sells the book, you can find it at http://amzn.to/Vno4Oe) which details growing up in Depression-era Texas, surviving in poverty, and he recounts his early years as a jazz bassist and later as a member of the folk group the New Christy Minstrels.  That interview can be listened to below, or by visiting http://www.wnyc.org/story/258388-kenny-rogers/:



2012 Interview with Dolly Parton

There's a also podcast known as "Bullseye with Jesse Thorn" (formerly known as "The Sound of Young America" which I may feature in a different post sometime soon) which is a public radio program/ podcast distributed by Public Radio International (PRI).  Jessie Thorn hosted in-depth interview with Dolly Parton (and Judd Apatow who's at the start of the podcast) on December 11, 2012.  He talks to Dolly Parton, noting that her voice could probably have easily carried her through life.  But her unwavering drive and embrace of hard work meant she was ready and willing to carve her own path, however, despite the great sacrifices such commitment required.  In that interview, Dolly Parton discusses some of those sacrifices, how they've affected her life, and how she feels about them now. She also shares stories from her childhood (having grown up in a large family in the mountains of Tennessee, Parton has no shortage of fondly remembered anecdotes) and relates the story behind one of her most well-loved songs, "I Will Always Love You."

That entertaining and informative podcast can be listened to below (aside from the introduction, you can skip ahead to count 42:25 to skip the Judd Apatow interview), or by visiting http://bit.ly/Ty0IVf:



Ms. Parton also has a new book out, entitled "Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You" (see it at Amazon.com by visiting http://amzn.to/10KmcvG) which expands on a popular commencement speech that Dolly Parton gave at the University of Tennessee on her personal philosophy on life.  That book was released in November 2012.

Although newer country crossover artists like Taylor Swift (who hails from suburban Philadelphia, which was never exactly the heart of country music) are in the tabloids all the time these days, the newcomers could probably learn a thing or two from people like Kenny and Dolly about becoming pop culture icons.  Don't get me wrong, I love her song "Mean", but there's also something to be said for learning from those who have gone down that path already.  Or, maybe, they've borrowed a page from them already?

Advertisers Finally Acknowledging Gen X

In my inaugural post for "Harvest Gold Memories" (see http://goo.gl/xc3S4 for that), I observed that Generation X ("Gen X") had officially reached middle-age, with several commercials clearly aimed at us as a group.  Having said that, I would much rather be middle-aged than in my twenties.  It's what comes next that's scary (although retirement should be great)!

Time in the Spotlight Is Bittersweet

Still, for Gen X, our moment in the spotlight is seen as long overdue, but is also bitter-sweet.

Time's Gen X Cover Story, July 16, 1990

For Gen X's entire existence, we've lived in the shadows of the enormous Baby Boom, and we were force-fed their experiences via pop-culture, music and politics.  Advertisers conveniently ignored us, although few of us felt very bad about that.  When we came of age in the early 1990s, we finally got a brief moment in the spotlight (check out the July 16, 1990 issue of Time magazine by visiting http://ti.me/5gQ3tM), and our music dominated the airwaves.  But that wouldn't last very long, and nowadays, "the airwaves" isn't even the only place where music can emerge as successful.  The world has changed, which is great, although I've lamented about the loss of a collective pop culture experience with television (see http://goo.gl/l4Z85), for example, although we see signs of that re-emerging now with social media (notably via Twitter) enabling that experience to be shared in a new way.

Having said that, as the Baby Boom heads off into the sunset, they no longer dominate sales for many consumer products categories, hence advertisers could no longer concern themselves exclusively with what Baby Boomers wanted.  A prime example: baby products like diapers aren't pitched to grandparents (Depends, maybe, but not Pampers, Luvs and Huggies).  However, these days, advertising clearly aimed at Gen X with music we may recall from our youths is now widespread.

Companies ranging from Mazda to Procter & Gamble to Visa (indeed, Gen X has surpassed Baby Boomers on credit card usage according to researchers, see http://bit.se/V6dUmr for details) have their sights on Gen X until they're prepared to move on to Millennials.

Brands Amp Up Their Generation X Appeal

On Friday, January 4, 2013, American Public Media's Marketplace program acknowledged the shift many of us had already observed, noting "Brands amp up their Generation X appeal" which you may listen to below, or by visiting https://www.marketplace.org/2013/01/04/brands-amp-their-generation-x-appeal/:

In the story, they interview Michael Accavetti, who is a vice president at Honda.  Honda claims to have researched Gen X.  He says:

"I mean this is a generation that is really first to have worked to live rather live to work, and they don't take themselves so seriously all the time and they appreciate brands who recognize that and recognize their lifestyle and sensibilities and have that same type of attitude like Honda."

A Honda commercial featuring Matthew Broderick reprising is role as Ferris Bueller, albeit the über-long version which runs for well over 2 minutes (which is unlikely ever to air on TV), can be viewed below, or by visiting https://youtu.be/4kaG95ZIjHQ:


While Gen X may be at the top of the advertising food-chain for the moment, none of us is naïve enough to presume we'll be there for long.  After all, there are more Millennials than Baby Boomers, and they're right behind us.  However, in some ways, Gen X has more similarities with Millennials than we do with Baby Boomers.  For example, having started social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, Gen X knows these things as well as Millennials do.  And, we are just as likely to have smartphones as Millennials (indeed, we're the ones that started dumping landlines seeing them as duplicative), although we may need our reading glasses to see the tiny screens!

Still, it's kind of nice to be recognized.

Author P.S., December 30, 2015:  The newspaper Epoch Times Weekend edition had a nice article about Gen X turning age 50.  A picture of the headline is below (you can click on the photo and be taken to the article online), although the link to the article is http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1925959-gen-x-turns-50-were-doing-well-thanks-for-asking/.

Sequel to Muppet Reboot Now Filming

It's hard to believe more than a year has passed since since the successful Muppet movie reboot known as "The Muppets" was released in November 2011.  I was able to see the Jim Henson exhibit at New York's Museum of the Moving Image in 2011 (see http://nyti.ms/qUZq9p for details on that) which was very interesting.  In any event, "The Muppets" 2011 movie grossed $158 million worldwide for Disney becoming the highest-grossing film in the Muppets series and was also the first of the series to gross over $100 million (unadjusted for inflation), effectively re-launching a movie franchise that the company had left to die with almost no investment since Disney acquired the Jim Henson Company back in 2004. The Hollywood Reporter (visit http://goo.gl/cTW4j) has already disclosed that Ricky Gervais (who appeared in "The Muppets") will be featured in a new Muppet sequel movie and Mr. Gervais himself acknowledged it via a Tweet, along with (potentially) Tina Fey.  Shooting for the new sequel is scheduled to take place starting January 2013 in London (the story will be about the Muppets going to Europe, hence the filming location).

Ideally, Disney should have been a great strategic fit for the Muppets, especially since the Muppets are characters traditionally aimed at children, but Disney had been on an acquisition binge over the past decade, snapping up several big media companies, ranging from Pixar (acquired 2006), Marvel Comics (acquired in 2009) to it's most recent acquisition of Lucasfilms (acquisition announced in 2012, see my post at http://goo.gl/YLhVm for details on that).  Frankly, without Jim Henson or Frank Oz (who's still around but now retired) to advocate for the Muppets, the franchise seemed destined to become a relic of a bygone era.  After all, today's kids are really enamored with the computer animation from Pixar and rivals like Dreamworks, whereas old-fashioned puppets or animation seems so last century, right?  Of course, the Muppets were fully-developed character personalities, giving them an edge over newly-created characters.

Jim Henson and his Muppet characters

Without getting too far off track, readers should know that Muppets is the formal name and legal trademark now owned by the Walt Disney Co. in reference to the original puppet characters created by Jim Henson.  Although Mr. Henson would sometimes tell people the term had been created by combining the words "marionette" and "puppet", he was also on record as saying that it was really just a made-up word.  Regardless, the franchise was already well-established, but poorly-managed (or maybe not managed at all?) since Disney took ownership in 2004.

Disney Acquisition Binge Left Muppets Franchise Unattended for 7 Years

In 1990, Jim Henson himself was in negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company, but Mr. Henson died rather unexpectedly during the week he was supposed to sign the contract, and his family then decided to have the company keep the rights to the characters.  Disney bought the distribution rights to Jim Henson Co. library (up to that time) in December 1991, but the company did not own the characters, merely the distribution rights to them.

In 2000, Jim Henson's children sold the entire Jim Henson Company to a German media company named EM.TV, but in early 2001, EM.TV experienced major financial problems, so the Jim Henson Company was again put up for sale.  Then, on February 17, 2004 Disney actually bought full ownership rights to the Muppet characters (excluding the Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock characters) for $75 million.  However, as I noted before, Disney did almost nothing with the franchise for the next seven years as it worked to transform itself into a media giant capable of competing with rivals Time Warner and Viacom.

Jason Segel: A Fan Steps In To Resurrect Muppets of His Youth

The entire Muppet reboot really happened because of Jason Segel, who admits he was was a big fan of the original Jim Henson series which most Gen Xers grew up watching on TV.  Jason Segel didn't just star in November 2011's movie "The Muppets", he was also a co-writer, having written the script with his "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" partner Nick Stoller.

Shortly after "The Muppets" 2011 reboot premiered, NPR's "Fresh Air" program spoke with Jason Segel about the reboot.  That interview may be listened to below, or by visiting  http://n.pr/rEjbWs:


2009 Muppet Rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" As A Preview

We saw an early hint of how a renewed Muppets franchise was likely to look when the Muppet Studio, back in late November 2009 (which had been pretty dormant), quietly brought the Muppets back to the small screen (the REALLY small screen, meaning YouTube) with a video of the Muppet gang doing a video rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was clearly aimed at the Gen Xers who grew up watching the Muppets on television back in the 1970s.  The video was released virally, and received over 10 million hits within its first 2 weeks online.  The official version of that can be viewed below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/tgbNymZ7vqY:

Frank Oz Less-Than-Impressed With Muppet Reboot?

To be sure, some purists weren't exactly thrilled with the reboot.  For example, Frank Oz (who was the original puppeteer for Miss Piggy among others), told the British website Metro (see http://bit.ly/UHUBZm):

"I wasn't happy with the script", Oz explained. "I don't think they respected the characters. But I don't want to go on about it like a sourpuss and hurt the movie."

Diva Miss Piggy on the cover of "People"
Sep. 3, 1979 (click on photo to see issue)

Mr. Oz seemed to overlook the fact that Mr. Segel was really throwing the Muppet franchise a lifeline.  For example, The Hollywood Reporter noted (see http://goo.gl/XVwLv) the Muppets hadn't been in theaters since "Muppets From Space" tanked for Sony in 1999.  It also reported:

"According to a Muppets veteran, toward the end of his life, Muppets creator Jim Henson was finding it a challenge to keep his creatures in the public eye. He was operating independently in an era of media concentration, which helps explain his decision to sell to Disney."

"It was difficult  even before Jim Henson died [in 1990], and it became very, very difficult after Jim died," said [one] insider ruefully. "We had the characters still doing things, but without a constant, in-your-face exposure that something like The Simpsons has ... They lost a generation."

Author Judy Blume's Thoughts On Revisions To Original Works

A while back I wrote about an NPR interview with 1970s kids' author Judy Blume (see that post at http://goo.gl/t4pcp), and she spoke on how over 25 years ago, her British editor talked to her about how her original edition of the book "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret" referred to sanitary napkins and pads that had belts and pins (not the sticky pads used now), so the author said she had no problem updating those things, and she's also updated books in the "Fudge" series to remove references to the smell of mimeograph machines which aren't used in schools anymore today, and she also changed some of the electronics cited in order to keep the books relevant to today's readers.

Her most telling comment was:

"You know, I don't think it has anything to do with the story and the characters. It just — it doesn't. Those are just little details that don't mean anything."

Now, I should note that Frank Oz was trying not to be overly critical (it was more of a side comment that seems to have been blown out of proportion), and my sense is he really didn't want to stand in the way of the new Muppet movie's success.  After all, he won't be around to do Miss Piggy forever, so getting new people to do it is key to the Muppets' survival into the future.

Jason Segel Reboots Muppets Franchise For Disney

Anyway, back to Jason Segel.  He was really the force behind getting the Muppet resurrection, and it was a bit more difficult than he'd anticipated.

According to Segel, putting the script together was kind of a logistical nightmare. "It was oddly a lot more complicated than I thought," Segel said in an interview during the CBS after-party during the Teen Choice Awards. "All of a sudden, you realize when you write a scene like, 'The Muppets run away from the building,' the set has to be elevated and there's puppeteers operating all four limbs. It's as creative as you want it to be in your brain."

However, Mr. Segel found that actually writing for puppets wasn't the most gut-wrenching part of the job, admitting "I cried the first time Kermit said a line I'd written.  It's not even 'awww' worthy. It just happened. I'd been writing the script for about four years, literally since 'Sarah Marshall.' We did a table reading, and they'd brought the puppets for the first time. We're all just sitting at the table, and all of a sudden they brought out Kermit and he said the first line that I had written. And I just lost my shit a little bit. I started crying at the table read and I had to awkwardly ask them to stop filming. It was emotional. He's been my favorite since I was a little kid." Despite the tears, Segel added, "It was a good day."

Check out the official trailer for "The Muppets" below, or by visiting http://youtu.be/C4YhbpuGdwQ:

To be sure, "The Muppets" reboot succeeded, although Mr. Segel won't be back for the new sequel.

It's also unclear if the new Muppet character Walter in "The Muppets" will be featured in the new movie, either (by the way, his human alter-ego in "The Muppets" was played by none other than "Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons).  Although the Walter character was well-received by Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey (see her review at http://lat.ms/RGsVqY), the character served more of a role in building "The Muppets" story, rather than much else.  Whether that character is needed in the new sequel remains to be seen.  With other such already well-developed characters like Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Swedish Chef, Rowlf the Dog, Statler and Waldorf, or Miss Piggy, it's unclear whether Walter will even make an appearance without Mr. Segel in the sequel.

In the meantime, Jason Segel has plenty of work in Hollywood to keep himself busy as an actor  who plays Marshall Eriksen in the current CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother".

For the record, Disney has released three seasons of "The Muppet Show" on DVD, and all of the Muppet movies have also been released on DVD.

As for the Muppets, they're all headed back to the studio in London this month, and we'll see if lightning really does strike twice for the newly-revived Disney Muppets franchise.

Author P.S., April 3, 2013:  The New York Times reports (see http://nyti.ms/ZaDvv6) Jane Henson, widow of (and original collaborator with) Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, died on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at her home in Greenwich, Conn. She was 78.  The cause was of death cancer, said a spokesman for the Jim Henson Co., the production company still owned by the couple's five children.  Ms. Henson was legally separated from Jim Henson in 1986, but they remained friends until his death in 1990.

Author P.S.,  June 10, 2015:  Entertainment Weekly, Variety and various others are reporting (see http://bit.ly/19Tqwny for one article) that ABC will reboot The Muppet Show as a primetime series for the network.  As the media has reported, the rebooted version of Muppet Show will be "more adult" shot in a mockumentary style à la The Office.  This makes sense given that the two Muppets films were heavily watched by adults who watched the movies with their own children (and were the original audience for the Muppets) and may find this type of entertainment appropriate for family viewing at home, plus the more adult humor may keep them coming back.  "The Big Bang Theory" co-creator Bill Prady, who spent his early days writing for the Muppets and received an Emmy nomination for co-writing a tribute to Muppets creator Jim Henson, will be exec producing the project.  The reboot will premier on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 on ABC television (ABC is owned by Disney, which also owns the Muppets).  A preview can be seen on YouTube at https://youtu.be/x2B5d-8H588.  The original, syndicated Muppet Show aired from 1976 to 1981.  ABC revived the franchise in 1996 with "Muppets Tonight", but the series was cancelled after 10 episodes.

Author P.S., August 5, 2015: In early August 2015, social media and traditional media were abuzz with the story (communicated by the celebrities themselves) that Miss Piggy And Kermit the Frog were calling it quits in terms of their relationship.  NPR covered the story briefly at http://n.pr/1TqptAW - the couple was careful to note that they'd be working together professionally in the Muppet Show reboot set to air on ABC (Disney owns both the Muppets and ABC) on September 22, 2015.  Some saw the news as little more than a publicity stunt for the rebooted show.

Millennials Nostalgic For The Not-So-Old Days

In November 2012, The New York Times featured an opinion piece written by a Millennial entitled "How to Live Without Irony" (see http://nyti.ms/1058Qvm for that piece) about the life of self-described urban "hipsters". The author wrote:

"The hipster haunts every city street and university town. Manifesting a nostalgia for times he never lived himself, this contemporary urban harlequin appropriates outmoded fashions (the mustache, the tiny shorts), mechanisms (fixed-gear bicycles, portable record players) and hobbies (home brewing, playing trombone). He harvests awkwardness and self-consciousness. Before he makes any choice, he has proceeded through several stages of self-scrutiny. The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies relentlessly, foraging for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation; his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things."

Hipsters An Easy Target For Mockery

She adds "He [the hipster] is an easy target for mockery."

Fair enough.  Check out the illustration that was featured in the article:

I look at some hipster hairstyles, for example, and think to myself "I can remember when people wore their hair like that the first time around, and those styles look every bit as tasteless now as they did back in the seventies." It was unattractive back then, and it's every bit as ugly today.  The hipster, a term which itself was self-applied, hence the group gave themselves a term they believed to be cool (whether they really are cool remains open to debate) are, in the words of The New York Times author, victims of ironic living. I don't claim to comprehend the perspective that the hipster has (or doesn't have) since I'm a Gen Xer who's now too old to buy into the perspective of martyrdom which many hipsters seem to embody.

Hell, I saw the "21 Jump Street" movie reboot and realized I have no clue what it's like to be a high school kid today, not that I'm sorry about that.  I hated high school and couldn't wait for college, which was great for me.  But I'm actually happy to be middle-aged, with retirement to look forward to in about 2 decades, although I worry about whether I've planned sufficiently.  But the martyrdom that many Hipsters project upon themselves and their collective generation stems primarily from a lousy job market, while simultaneously failing to acknowledge that any kid who graduated high school in the 1970s, or even as I did during the recession of the early 1990s (following the stock market crash of 1987), know full well the Hipster's current economic lot is hardly unique.  They'll adapt, and if they're lucky, some Baby Boomers will finally retire, making room for new hires sooner rather than later.

Millennials' Job Market Woes Suck, But Are Hardly Unique

To be sure, Millennials' employment situation stinks, and, many have far too much student loan debt than preceding generations had (indeed, one could argue that many people collectively encouraged the assumption of massive student loan debts without certainty those debts could be repaid (check out http://n.pr/NKWIYP for more background), and thanks to so darn many Baby Boomer student loan defaults back in the 1970s, U.S. Congress passed laws which prohibits the write-off of student loan debts, putting people without incomes in a very difficult position.  The fact that this was never acknowledged in the autumn Presidential Debates when it deserved to be means the issue is being ignored by lawmakers, which is a failure of political activists representing the youth population.  What are organizations like MoveOn.org doing?  On the other hand, Millennials they aren't unique in struggling with economic downturns, even though the sheer number of them has brought attention to the issue.  Everyone wants economic growth, and some are making it happen by starting businesses of their own, which is really the American way of doing things.

In fact, the U.S. largely avoided the boom-bust cycles for an unusually lengthy period of time prior to 2009, but no one should be fooled into believing Federal policymakers somehow had it all figured out.  Not matter what they claim, policymakers have NOT mastered the art of managing an economy to avoid recessions, and that's not going to change anytime soon.  Downturns are a fact of life, and that's not new.  Millennials aren't the first, and probably won't be the last to endure that not-so-pretty fact. When I graduated college in the early 1990s, the New England (where I attended college)  job market sucked, and I had plenty of student loan debt to repay (although nowhere near as much as many 20-somethings have today) so I had to make sacrifices to accommodate, including taking a job with a very long commute and living at home with Mom & Dad instead of sharing an apartment with others my age because I simply couldn't afford it at that time.  But I endured, and just as they are learning to do now.  By the way, I'd recommend any Millennial readers of this post catch the June 9, 1997 issue of Time magazine by visiting http://ti.me/R47pfh.  There were similar predictions of my generation turning into a lost generation, but we turned out OK (check out the University of Michigan research on that at http://bit.ly/q0HaoX), and so will Millennials.

I empathize with the predicament of many Millennials, and I think they ARE unique in living with an unprecedented level of student loan debt, but I also worry my own generation is likely to be victimized by the youth of today in their efforts to deal with huge debts their parents accumulated for things like tax breaks that were never paid for and 2 unnecessary wars which were also never paid for because Gen X is next in line after the Baby Boom.  The people who really should be paying more are rich old people who are benefiting from Government largesse when they can easily afford to pay their own way.  Leaving a big inheritance to unappreciative kids isn't a right that's earned when you're successful (or lucky).  I hope that policymakers of the future won't decide to make aggressive age cutoffs on retirement benefits (Social Security and Medicare) at progressively older ages, because many middle-income people have made financial plans based on presumption that they would be eligible for benefits at a certain age (indeed, some of us DID presume we'd have to wait longer than retirees today, but we don't have the luxury of turning back time).

Don't raise the eligibility age for Medicare to age 66, then 67, 68, 69 and 70.  Instead, try saving money by implementing means testing for elderly benefits such as Medicare.  If you're old and rich, you don't need Medicare or even social security payments as you retire in a luxurious Palm Beach winter home while shopping at Needless Markups (I mean Neiman Marcus) for new winter outfits and dining out every day without a care in the world, then returning to your other home in affluent New York or Chicago suburbs during the summer.  Instead, some people feel entitled to bitch about estate taxes they'll never have to pay (their beneficiaries will), while simultaneously collecting Medicare and Social Security, as if they're somehow getting screwed.  Does anyone else notice something misprioritized in this picture?

NPR Reports on Nostalgia For Recent Times

Anyway, although I thought it was a bit premature to suddenly feel nostalgic about the 1990s, and last April (2011), NPR's "All Things Considered" program reported that people now in their twenties were finding nostalgia for the not-so-olden-days.  In the NPR story "Children Of The '90s Nostalgic Over TV" (listen below, or by visiting http://n.pr/gbpmzK), the reports suggest there are some good reasons, most notably that television represents a break from the always-connected world many people live in today.



The term "Couch Potato" did not originate because television was ever an "active" experience. Indeed, TV is usually passive, and the article notes twenty-somethings maybe turning to their own retro TV "to get away from the media torrent" in which they live with mobile phones attached to them 24/7/365. That's a valid reason.

Is Nostalgia For Not-So-Old Stuff Genuine?

However, nostalgia for not-so-old-times is unusual for television, but the NPR story notes that it seems to be happening so soon. For example, "The Brady Bunch Movie" was released in 1992, fresh on the heels of Gen X's nostalgia period, but that was 20 years after the original show aired on TV. Feeling nostalgic for Nickelodeon shows like "Rugrats" in 2013 is harboring nostalgia for something that (to my knowledge) never left the airwaves, or if it had left the airwaves, it was only off for a few short years.

NPR rightly notes that kids of the 1990s may be "the last generation to use television as their main cultural snorkel to the universe". I think the main difference between them and Generation X is that they already had many cable channels to choose from, while Gen X had just the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and later Fox plus PBS if you count that, too).

I've written in the past about (see http://goo.gl/l4Z85 for details) how cable as we know it didn't become widespread until the 1980s. Many small towns in the U.S. weren't even wired for cable until the 1980s. (I provided stats that cable subscriptions more than tripled from 15 million in 1980 to 47 million in 1989 in my post on "Family Ties", see that post at http://goo.gl/DRmhw for that).

The New York Times writer notes that the nostalgia-so-soon phenomenon seems to be accelerated by using apps like Instagram which has functionality to make a photo appear like a distinctive old Polaroid instant photo, for example, even though few users have ever seen a real Polaroid camera.  However, The New York Times article opinion piece also wrote:

"Furthermore, the nostalgia cycles have become so short that we even try to inject the present moment with sentimentality, for example, by using certain digital filters to 'pre-wash' photos with an aura of historicity."

She appropriately added:

"Nostalgia needs time. One cannot accelerate meaningful remembrance."

Always-Connected Means Nostalgia for Simpler Times May Be Real

Harvest Gold Memories is all about nostalgia, but until I caught the NPR "Children Of The '90s Nostalgic Over TV" story, I never thought that a decade was anywhere near enough time to feel nostalgic about something, especially when the stuff (like TV shows from the 1990s) has never really disappeared. However, I believe that in the always-connected world we live in today, with a never-ending stream of news, emails, and other media content, the evolution of short nostalgia cycles is perhaps understandable.

Still, wonder how nostalgia might be delivered 30 years from now when it's already available on-demand? Will Hipster Millennials look back at their own past?  Will they be able to write a blog in coherent prose without all text acronym gibberish?  Maybe they'll pick it up!

Pop Culture Memoir: New Biography About Actress Elizabeth Montgomery

Happy New Year!

2013 kicked off with a few marathons of truly classic television.  Most notable was a day-long airing of "Bewitched" on both Me-TV (which stands for "Memorable Entertainment Television", note that I addressed that network in a prior post at http://goo.gl/gZcVJ) and also on Viacom/MTV's gay-themed network Logo.  The show had been picked up by both networks in late 2012 after what was arguably a long absence from television.   It was last shown in 2008-2009 on WGN America, but later discontinued.  While it's a perfectly logical fit for Me-TV, its fit on Logo seems likely to do better in the ratings than did several MTV reality shows ported over to Logo, most notably "16 and Pregnant" which did not resonate at all with lesbians or gay men and has drawn poor ratings (as if it's hard to understand why?!, BTW, I wrote about that issue previously, see http://goo.gl/aZkMS for details).

Side Notes About "Bewitched" Cast

One interesting side-note: of the original "Bewitched" cast, aside from the actress who played daughter Tabitha (Erin Murphy, who I covered in another post, see http://goo.gl/iKsTG for that, as well as her twin sister Dianne who was later dropped) and perhaps the un-credited child actor who played cameos of brother Adam in the last few seasons, the only surviving original actor from the show is the actor who played the recurring role of Dr. Bombay (played by British-actor Bernard Fox) who remains alive today, and is reportedly age 85.  However, "Bewitched" also has the notable distinction of having replaced several cast members throughout the show’s production, most notably actor Dick York who was replaced by actor Dick Sargent in 1969.  Other cast members who were replaced include the actress who played the busybody neighbor Gladys Kravitz, as well as the actress who played Louise Tate, all of whom were played by multiple actors, and unfortunately, even the replacement actors/actresses have since passed away.

New Biography About "Bewitched's" Elizabeth Montgomery

Of course, entire series of "Bewitched" is available on DVD including the original Black & White version of the first 2 seasons (which weren't originally recorded in color, but were later colorized by Ted Turner) hence the content for "Bewitched" is completely digitized.  Also of note is that the original show's producer (and star Elizabeth Montgomery’s ex-husband), William Asher (best known for his work on "I Love Lucy"), just passed away in the summer of 2012 (see the obituary at http://lat.ms/12WINJl).  "Bewitched's" recent TV resurrection happens to coincide with a recent book (published November 2012) called "Twitch Upon A Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery" by pop culture scholar Herbie J. Pilato.

While books about dead celebs happen somewhat regularly, the reality is that actress Elizabeth Montgomery hasn't exactly been a TV icon for a number of years, and as I noted in the preceding paragraph, her signature TV show "Bewitched" wasn't even airing in U.S. syndication when the book went to press.  The author has written several other books about Hollywood (indeed, this is his second book on "Bewitched", so I'm presuming it's a personal favorite for the author) and he describes himself as a "pop culture scholar".  He also started a nonprofit organization called The Classic TV Preservation Society and does consulting on the topic.  As I understand it, Mr. Pilato actually interviewed Ms. Montgomery prior to her death in 1995 for his first book entitled “The Bewitched Book" and discovered he had lots of unused interview material left over from which he was able to put in this new book, along with interviews with some other people from Liz's life like her friends Sally Kemp and Cliff Robertson.

This particular book is breaking some unspoken rules about publishing, notably that the subject of a biography usually requires that the subject is (or at least their work) is still in the public eye, at least that’s what publishers usually look for when printing a book.  But the publishing industry is undergoing some fundamental changes, in fact, two of the largest publishers merged in 2012 (Random House and Penguin, see the NPR story about that merger at http://n.pr/Up0mh5), although the merger may be as much about fundamental changes to the business climate for book publishers as it is about big publishers getting even bigger.  The new predator isn't other, traditional publishers, but retailers like Amazon.com, the very company that began as an online bookseller (see http://n.pr/yhDsct for more about that, although the story is a bit more complicated than simply disruptive technology, see http://n.pr/Ym1aCd for more on that).  Beyond her extended absence from television, actress Elizabeth Montgomery died 17 years (in 1995) ago from colon cancer (in fact, she died just 6 weeks after diagnosis), and as I've already noted, she's been out of the public eye for the same amount of time.

As the book title indicates, the subject of his biography is actress Elizabeth Montgomery, best known for portrayal as the bubbly, blonde, nose-twitching housewife witch Samantha Stephens of the TV sitcom "Bewitched" which began in the mid-1960s, but peaked in popularity during the 1970s, and was followed by a very successful run in syndication.  In fact, the show was so popular that the "Samantha" character that she (along with a very brief cameo of Darrin) was featured in a full episode of Hanna-Barbera's animated cartoon "The Flintstones" which were sold on VHS together under the title "The Flintstones Meet Samantha" (the actual episode from October 1965 was known simply as "Samantha").  The actual celebrities provided the voice talent for that particular episode, as both "Samantha" and "Darrin" from "Bewitched" were voiced by Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York, respectively.

Behind the Scenes on the Set of "Bewitched"

As already noted, "Bewitched" re-emerged on television after an absence of several years in late 2012 on Viacom/MTV's "Logo" network as well as Me-TV, but is reportedly also slated to air on Tribune’s Antenna TV starting next fall (2013), as reports of the license agreement were revealed several months ago.

In any event, the behind-the-scenes look at Elizabeth Montgomery's life was not the first, but is perhaps designed to tell the story in a way that's more likely to sell books today, which in publishing is what matters most these days.  Most reviews, for example, suggest that Elizabeth Montgomery didn't get along with co-star Dick York (the first actor to play Darrin).  However, the reality is it was less about Mr. York than about his lack of professionalism, and she did push her then-husband and "Bewitched" producer William Asher to find a replacement him because he was addicted to painkillers and kept missing recordings, which made her life more difficult.  (Ms. Montgomery's father was also in show business, hence she had a belief that a certain level of decorum was appropriate for this type of work).

The role of Darrin went to actor Dick Sargent whose professionalism Elizabeth Montgomery seemed to like better.  But that move didn't sit very well with co-star Agnes Moorehead (who played her mother Endora), an entertainment legend from stage, radio, TV and movies.  The author wrote that Elizabeth had battles with Agnes Moorehead. Apparently, Agnes was rather fond of Dick York and didn't want to see him go.  The book writes that Ms. Moorehead reduced his replacement, Dick Sargent, to tears on occasion, according to the new book.

Ms. Montgomery was ready to quit the show during it's height of success, tired of the hassles and bickering in the studio, but apparently the studio made her a salary offer she couldn't afford to turn down, so she stayed on for a few more seasons.  But when that ended, she wanted to move on.  One of her more memorable roles post-Bewitched was for the TV movie "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" in which she played the axe murderess Lizzie Borden in 1975.

The author offered the following teasers in in his new book (see http://goo.gl/rR4a2 for details):

• Why did Elizabeth Montgomery, star of TV's Bewitched, hate Ronald Reagan?

• How are JFK and Marilyn Monroe related to "Bewitched"?

• What does the Iran/Contra Affair have to do with "Bewitched"?

• What does the 1988 Pan Am incident over Lockerbie have to do with "Bewitched"?

• Why did Elizabeth view prejudice as the core message of "Bewitched"?

• How did Elizabeth twitch her nose as Samantha on "Bewitched"?

• Was she really related to ax-murderess Lizzie Borden?

• Did Gary Cooper make a play for a pre-witched Elizabeth?

• Did she have an affair with Dean Martin (on the set of their hit movie, "Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed")?

• Did dueling affairs break-up Elizabeth's marriage to "Bewitched" producer/director William Asher?

• Did Elvis Presley have a thing for Elizabeth?

• Just exactly how abusive was her marriage to alcoholic actor Gig Young (her second of four husbands)?

• Did Darrin really love Samantha behind the "Bewitched" scenes? Is THAT why there were two Darrin's?

• Did Samantha and Endora battle behind the witch cameras?

He closes by writing "The answers to these questions and more are found in my new biography of Elizabeth Montgomery, 'Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery'", which is based on Mr. Pilato's exclusive interviews with Elizabeth Montgomery (and others).

I haven't read the book personally, but I would say the subject is more appealing than, say,  another book about Steve Jobs, if for no other reason than the content seems fresh by comparison!

Author P.S., October 9, 2014: Actress Elizabeth Montgomery did not retire after "Bewitched" ended, she continued acting in guest roles and on TV game shows for a time.  One of her most enduring post-Bewitched roles was in a 1975 made-for-TV movie called "The Legend of Lizzie Borden" which I believe ran on ABC.  As the chant (often sang by school girls doing jump rope) goes: "Lizzy Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks, When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one" - that's basically all you need to know, except that Elizabeth Montgomery played the leading role (the name was easy for her to remember!).  The character was of course, about a Fall River, Massachusetts woman who supposedly committed these horrific acts of murder on August 4, 1892.  The legend has persisted for generations.  Described by DVD Talk as "Hypnotically creepy, one of the best made-for-TV movies of the 1970s--and that's saying something from that golden age of the form" (see the review at http://ow.ly/CwsFA), or for those already familiar with this legendary TV movie, you can actually buy it at Amazon by visting http://amzn.to/10WoUp6.

Author P.S., October 17, 2014:  Its hard for many of us to believe, but television's "Bewitched" series turn's 50 this year (indeed, Erin Murphy, one of the twins who played Tabitha in the original show, recently hosted a marathon in observance of the anniversary!  The series originally ran on ABC from 1964 to 1972, and sometimes people forget that the first two seasons were shot in black and white, before switching to color in season 3.  Ted Turner colorized the first two season, and many prefer the colorized versions.  The show, which quickly soared to the top of the ratings, used creative filming to create an illusion of witchcraft-magic.  Needless to say, in the late sixties to early seventies, the show ruled the airwaves.

There was a kind of a reboot (or reimagining) on the big screen in 2005 that starred Nicole Kidman as Samantha and Will Farrell, but the concept for the film (and as a result, box office numbers) bombed.  Frankly, the film stunk, and deserved the ridicule it received from critics because it had none of the magic of the original.  But there is news from Deadline that Sony is reportedly shopping the idea for a TV reboot.  Whether it makes it past the concept stage remains to be seen, and a lot has happened since the original series (for example, the idea of stay-at-home housewives as Samantha was, is largely history), so a reboot would need to reflect today's reality, not 1970's.