HELP! It's a gift.

My friend Cynthia O'Neal, among many other Friends In Deed of my acquaintance, have suggested that asking for help is as much a gift for the person(s) we are asking assistance of as it is for us.  Now, I realize that I ask for help about as often as Bullwinkle J. Moose attempts to pull a rabbit out of his hat (six times a cartoon show).  It is with pleasure I state with pleasure that my request for assistance requires no more than a little time and a few mouse clicks from you.

Since July,  I have been writing two weekly columns for Palm Springs Guides, a local entertainment web site here in California.  "Movies and More!" was a movie review column.  The other column was a thinly veiled account of my life here in the desert entitled, "As The Corn Pops."  I say "was" because Palm Springs Guides is about to close.

We gathered for a staff dinner last night, most of us knowing there was news our publishers were going to share.  We had no idea it was to tell us we were out of business.  Many of us present at the dinner expressed our gratitude to our publishers for giving us the opportunity to write our stories.  I too, am grateful.  Right now, however, the news is still too new for me to jump into that space of "gratitude."  I am pissed off. I am not going down without a fight.

Apparently, Palm Springs Guides generates very little advertising revenue.  My publishers seem to have more flair for the creative than the practical.  That's not a complaint.  I absolutely relate to that.  I am still 100% positive that "Auntie Mame" and "The Wizard of Oz" are the finest examples of documentary and travelogue film making, ever.

Here's how you can help.  Please visit our site on Wednesday and/or Thursday.  Then go tell everyone you know to visit the site.  The more hits we get, the better it looks when we court potential advertisers.  If you know anyone who works in Marketing and is known to be a "rainmaker", please put that person in touch with me.

Of course, it would be beneficial to me if you visited our site today.  My final two columns will go live on the site at approximately 3:00 PM Eastern Time.

I am aware that there may be other sites/publications I could write for.  I'd prefer to write right were I am.

To paraphrase Rhoda Morgenstern, speaking in the first episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, "I left New York because I couldn't find a place to write.  I'm not leaving Palm Springs for the same reason."

Hands on your mice, everyone.  Please start clicking, here.

Thanks.

Video Vault Flashback - July 20, 1978

It has been a long time since I posted anything new.  Actually, I've been busy beginning a new life for myself in California.  More about that later.  In the meantime, it is with great pleasure that I post something old.


It's 1978.  The Carol Burnett Show ends its 11 year run.  "Grease" is the Number One movie in America.  "Garfield" makes his comic strip debut.  And I am going to be a contestant on my favorite game show!

Yes, it's me on The $20,000 Pyramid!  After waiting five years (I was too young when the show made its debut), I was selected to be a contestant.  I was so excited and a bit nervous the day we taped this.  Lois Nettleton and Dick Cavett were the celebrity guests this week.  I was partnered with Lois.  She was a great game player and very gracious, albeit a bit upset after having lost the previous Winners Circle round. 

From top to bottom:

• Me during my pre-game interview.  I'm looking at Dick Clark.
• Me, getting ready to give some killer clues.
• Lois Nettleton and I are all smiles after getting a perfect score.

I didn't win the game.  I did receive some lovely parting gifts.  They were (and this is no joke),

• Dentyne Gum - I had fresh breath for a year.
• Jovan Eau Fresh Bath Products - I think I gave these to my Mother and Sister.
• Golden Dipt Chicken Coating Mix - I would not have eaten this even if they paid me.
• Icee Frozen Drinks -  This product was not sold in New York City.  I wasn't about to go looking for it.
• Childcraft "How and Why" Library - I gave these to my cousins, thinking their kids might like it.

Thinking it may come in handy in later life, I did request a copy of my performance.  My request was denied, along with an explanation that the tapes were to be erased.  This was common practice in those days as two-inch videotape was very expensive.   On July 20, I sat in a Greenwich Village pub with my best friend, Judy Resnick and we watched the show.  The bartender gave us drinks, I got a big cheer from everyone else there, and that was that.


Fast forward 25 years and much to my surprise, I'm in reruns on the Game Show Network.  I never thought I'd say this, but thank Heaven for five-hundred channels of television.  Apparently, a bunch of Pyramid episodes had not been erased, mine being one of them.  Could you erase me?  I mean, really!  


The nice thing about my pictures is that they actually talk.  They can be seen here.


I must say it is good to have this, if for no other reason than to say, "You see that, Carol Burnett?  My shirt collar was almost as big as your curtain rod."


How I wish I still had that studly head of hair.  Five, four, three, two, one...roll 'em!