Letters From Bobby

I am so glad today is a federal holiday. Not that I have the day off from work, mind you. In fact, I’m soon to leave for a commercial audition in Newark late this morning. (”Autumn in Newark.” Didn’t Frank Sinatra sing about that?) I’m glad today is a federal holiday because I won’t be getting any bills in the mail. This economy and the job situation have slapped Uncle Sam like he’s a trailer park crack ho.

Yesterday, I caught some of the 24-hour salute to the late Paul Newman on Turner Classic Movies. The movie line-up reminded me so sweetly that, when I was a kid, I went to see Paul Newman movies and really didn’t care what they were about as long as Paul Newman was in them. He was even cool in the lesser films that folks may not even know about — like “The Secret War of Harry Frigg,” “A New Kind of Love,” “What A Way To Go!,” “Slap Shot,” “Pocket Money” and the seriously under-appreciated “Fort Apache, The Bronx.” He will be missed and what a great legacy of charitable work he leaves behind for us to consider. I wish I could have been rich like that so I could have been a mensch with my millions.

On the subject of childhood favorites, another local TV star from my youth is gone. Sportscaster Gil Stratton. He’d started out as an actor in some A-list movies. I knew him as one of the best local sportscasters in Southern California with a highly-recognizable voice. When I was a youngster, he was the weekend host of a Saturday live show from Hollywood Park. Thoroughbred horseracing and movie stars on local CBS TV, then called KNXT. I don’t know how he made the transition from film to TV but he certainly kept himself employed. Back then, on The Million Dollar Movie or The Late Show, it was cool to see the early, gangly Gil Stratton dance with Judy Garland in the “Embraceable You” number in Girl Crazy, act tough with Marlon Brando as a member of his biker gang in The Wild One or endure life with William Holden in a Nazi prison camp called Stalag 17. The other local TV celebs from my L.A. days who passed this year were Chucko the Clown, Engineer Bill, teen pop music show host Lloyd Thaxton, talk show host Les Crane and ultra-conservative L.A. news anchor, George Putnam. Putnam was the basis for Ted Knight’s Ted Baxter character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” We still have talk show hosts and newspeople, but the local kiddie show host seems to be a piece of pop culture that has faded away like the roller skate key. Some of those hosts influenced stuff I did decades later on VH1. Lloyd Thaxton was flat-out fascinating. He added touches of Ernie Kovacs and Steve Allen to the local “American Bandstand” TV show format with dancing teens and pop acts. His show was very visually innovative for local television and it was obvious that he loved his audience. You don’t get that feeling from some network entertainment hosts today.

I wonder if any of my work will be remembered as creative and bright. The thought of that makes me need to work harder. I’m off to my commercial audition callback. Say one for me. Happy Columbus Day. May you find a safe harbor after your physical or emotional voyage.