FLEXITUBE IN THE PUPPETRY JOURNAL

"LET'S HAVE FUN" POSTER

Hey! My birthday present arrived! It's the large colorful beautiful autographed LET'S HAVE FUN POSTER! If I were a kid I woulda died, so I'm glad I didn't get it as a kid so I could be here now to show it to you! Joy unbounded.

RANGER SMITH, and WOBBLES

Via the GREAT, Chuck McCann. . .

PAUL RUBIN R.I.P.

My oldest friend PAUL RUBIN passed away on Christmas Eve morning.

He was my running buddy back in the days of early teenage hood when I was young and innocent and Paul was a whole lot more sophisticated about the ways of the world; how to get around New York City and find the cool stuff (like THE MEMORY SHOP movie memorabilia joint) and girls. And most importantly, puppets!!!

(Me, Rowlf, Jim Henson, and Paul on the set of A SUMMER PLACE on CBS circa back in the day)

As everybody knows, I'm a puppeteer and have been since I could stick my hand over the crib. Paul was once a puppeteer too. That's how we met.
To New York City people of my generation there were a few truly magical names. Names like Sandy Becker, Soupy Sales and especially Chuck McCann. These guys had local TV shows with puppets and cartoons and they were on everyday and we all watched them. Some of us were adventurous enough to leave our living rooms and head to the TV studios where these heroes did their shows. I did. And so did Paul.

(That's Paul working the Paul Ashley puppets during a break at Chuck's WPIX-TV11 show LET'S HAVE FUN)

One day, at Chuck McCann's LAUREL & HARDY FIX-IT SHOPPE SHOW, our paths crossed. I went to Channel 5 and saw Chuck, who said I had to sit in the viewers booth today. So I climbed the lonely stairs and there behind the glass window sat a handsome boy about my own age with nicely-combed hair, wearing a well-tailored blue suit, with a pretty girl friend on his arm. When I walked in he turned and said to me "what the hell were you doing down there?" Well, I liked Laurel and Hardy and since I was Chubby I assumed the role of Ollie and said "Well never you mind!" Then skinny Paul began to cry like Stanley. And right at that moment we became life-long friends. We put together a Laurel and Hardy act. . . . . . and eventually performed on The Joe Franklin MEMORY LANE TV Show!

We built puppets, did shows at schools, and met the greats.

We learned "Who's On First" and did it for anyone who would listen.
(with JOEY FAYE in the hallway of WOR-TV9 prior to a JOE FRANKLIN appearance)

We traveled around the city, started a company RUMAR ENTERPRISES. . .

(with Jack Burns from Burns & Schrieber)

. . . met celebrities and even put out a magazine called Celebrity Post!

For almost 4 years we were inseparable.
New friends came into our lives and we went our several ways. Sometimes losing touch for years as craziness kicked in and yet? We never left each others hearts.
We reconnected in a more or less permanent way these past 10 years, talking a couple of times a month, a week, sometimes a day. The last few months were rough when Paul got sick, and then when I received an email from his sister Amy that he was taken to the hospital, I knew I had to visit him. But not just me. Remember earlier when I mentioned the name of kid show host Sandy Becker? When Sandy passed away Olga and I inherited his puppets, and one of Paul's and my favorite was a feisty little German named GEEBA GEEBA. When I walked into his hospital room, he was not alert. Amy rubbed his chest and brought him to consciousness and told him I was there. He struggled to open his eyes and when I caught his attention, I told him I brought someone to see him, and pulled Geeba Geeba from my black bag, put him on my hand and had him say:
"Hello dere Paul! Remember me? I remember you ven you used to be black und vite."
And he smiled. And they talked. And through Geeba, Paul and I reminisced about the highlights of our life together. He held Geeba's little hand and hugged him. When it was time to pack Geeba away, Paul struggled with his hand and signaled us closer. Geeba and I leaned down and Paul smiled and whispered to us "Thanks for the memories."

Paul, I want to say thank YOU, for the memories. You will always be part of my story.

http://flexitoon.blogspot.com/2010/04/for-love-of-laurel-and-hardy.html

IT'S STAN LAUREL's 120th BIRTHDAY!

OUR TRIBUTE TO HALF OF THE GREATEST COMEDY TEAM OF ALL TIME!

By the Great AL KILGORE
My Portrait Puppet 1974

Courtesy the Faiola Chelsea Rialto Collection
by Paul Ashley
Paul Rubin & Me as boys playing The Boys
Chuck McCann - - the Bringer of The Love

Paul Ashley and Flexitoon Puppeteer (the Hirsuited) Alan Semok

Paul Ashley STANIFYING in his workshop
(foto the Captain Kevin Kollection)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAN (This is how you looked when first we met!)

IT'S A NEW WEEK, SO. . .

(title card from Chuck McCann's show)

THE PROJECTIONIST

Before CHUCK McCANN left for Hollywood to co-star alongside ALAN ARKIN in THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, he made an amazing film here in New York City called THE PROJECTIONIST. Chuck played a lonely fella who literally escapes into the films he unspools. The incorporation of Chuck into different, pre-existing period films was way ahead of it's time (at least since Buster Keaton!) Filmed in the late 60's but released in 1971, it co-starred INA BALIN, and also marked RODNEY DANGERFIELD's film debut.
Try and find a copy of THE PROJECTIONIST, and you'll enjoy a remarkable film by a remarkable talent.
Here are three scenes:

CAPTAIN FLASH TO THE RESCUE!

Chuck, working the projection booth, does dead-on impressions of his filmic heroes, back when stars had faces with voices to go along with them. . .

A legend in his own mind, the Projectionist imagines himself arriving at his own movie premiere, where he has to cut-out, in order to roll the film.
My friend Paul Rubin and I were with Chuck for several days, and one night they were going to shoot the "premiere" scene. The director, Harry Hurwitz, wanted "Chucks people" all around him, so he positioned me in front and said "be in awe when you see him." So, if you watch the left side of your screen at about :31, you'll see 15 year old . . .me.

Here's a really good write-up about the film: http://www.qwipster.net/projectionist.htm

DR. ZEBRA and MR. McNASTY

HUNGRY FOR OUR NEW PROJECT TO GET COOKIN'!

Chuck McCann in the Pie Eating Contest

SPEAKING of GREAT VENTRILOQUISTS. . .

This clip speaks for itself (and you can see it's lips moving, too)

(the great Chuck McCann on WNEW-TV5 1966)

WONDERAMA (Part I)

Back in the day, WONDERAMA was the go-to show in the New York Tri-State area for fun & games & comedy & guests. It was on for fours on Sunday hosted by SONNY FOX, though it began as a 6 hour(!) program starring SANDY BECKER.I, of course, preferred LET'S HAVE FUN which was on opposite Wonderama but starred CHUCK McCANN with the PAUL ASHLEY PUPPETS as all of the above.
Here's how my trek to appearing on Wonderama began. . .

I get dragged to a CAR SHOW at the Coliseum on 59th & Columbus Circle here in NYC by a new friend I had just met in school. Never had much interest in cars (still don't) but oh well what de hell I went. Fenders, bumpers, engines = meh.
Then suddenly my eyes fell upon an oasis in a desert of tin. There was a poster bellowing:

VENTRILOQUIST JIMMY NELSON PERFORMING LIVE!

Right there! So I was right there. Like clockwork Jimmy appeared on the stage and from beneath a lecturn he produced his partners DANNY O'DAY & FARFEL THE DOG.
For those of you who don't know who he is, Jimmy Nelson was in the Top Tier of Classy Vents in the 50's and 60's.

There was EDGAR BERGEN

. . . PAUL WINCHELL. . .
. . . and JIMMY NELSON.

He will forever (how long is "forever" in a culture that goes POP?) be remembered for his classic NESTLES QUIK COMMERCIALS.

Well, his act was GREAT and afterwards I wended my way backstage and met his eyes and told him "I can talk without moving my mouth" which I said without moving my mouth. He told me "Hey, you're good. Do you want to see my dummies?" It wasn't an etching but I couldn't say no. In fact I FLIPPED!!! So we go on the stage and - - I still think this memory is beyond cool - - he unlocks a door on the back of the lecturn and there sat Danny & Farfel. And he let me manipulate them! That was the first time I ever worked a professional dummy with a hole in the back and it's head on a stick.

After a while he said to me "why don't you call my friend Norman Berger . . . (Norman! If you're reading this? THANX!) . . . he's the producer of WONDERAMA. I'll tell him to expect your call, then you can set-up a time to audition." That was heaven. Yes it was (except it meant if I got on I'd have to miss LET'S HAVE FUN. What a choice!)

It's telling that all these people I admired that I met as a child:

JIMMY NELSON

CHUCK McCANN

PAUL ASHLEY

SANDY BECKER

. . . they all gave me a real-life boost in this make-believe art. THANKS GUYS!!!

A few weeks later, I was on WONDERAMA.

COMING: PART II

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!!!!

HALLOWEEN was always big around my apartment growing up. Dad was a professional make-up artist and when he'd come home from work on All Hallow's Eve, kids would be lined up out the door and down the stairs (we lived on the 6th floor) for Dad to make them up.

My favorite make-up for many years was EMMETT KELLY, the famous sad-faced hobo. One time the Community Center across from my building was having a Halloween Costume Party and my dad couldn't be home in time, so I went into his make-up kit (unleashing that gloriously pungent-fresh-from-vaudeville grease paint smell!) and did my first make-up. I won First Prize, too. I was 6. . .

I always liked portraying different people and things. That's why puppets and puppetry suit me like a glove. If I saw something or someone I liked, I had to be it or them. Guess I was an early Zelig-teer!

Like, Steve McQueen as Josh Randall in "WANTED- DEAD OR ALIVE"

Who's cooler? Him or me?

Or CHUCK McCANN. Boy I wanted to be him. We even have the same initials!

SOUPY SALES was another fave wannabe. . .

I guess you never have to outgrow it. . .

My friend PAUL RUBIN and I used to dress like LAUREL AND HARDY and perform at schools and events as the duo (I was Chubby Ollie). We even made several TV appearances. . .

The zombie in the middle is JOE FRANKLIN.

In (very) High School we put on attic shows as THE MARX BROTHERS

I'm GROUCHO (and the red-eyed fella in the red was (nay IS!) DUG COHEN - - soon to become my partner in the MARKO PUPPET THEATRE.

I carried this joi-de-make-believe into adulthood, and played the villianous ventriloquist BRACKISH SWAMPWATER on my FOX series DJ KAT.

Have a wonderful OctoBoo 31, 2009.

McCann & McNasty Through The Years

A POTPOUREE OF POWERFUL PUPPETS

"LET'S HAVE FUN"

with

CHUCK McCANN

(my former partner) Holly Smith, Me, Steve Stegman and

PAUL ASHLEY

Backstage in Warwick, R.I. 1974

PAUL ASHLEY'S VARIETY SHOW PUPPETS


BIL BAIRD & SLUGGER RYAN


BIL & CORA
On The Bridge


DISHONEST JOHN & CECIL
from
"TIME FOR BEANY"
(1949)


BOB CLAMPETT & CECIL


GEORGE PAL
He of the
PUPPETOONS


WINCHELL/MAHONEY TIME

SHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Secret shot. . .

KUKLA FRAN & OLLIE & JERRY & PAUL

BURR'S EYE VIEW

(Burr Tillstrom)

POOKIE THE LION . . .

. . . courtesy of

FRANK NASTASI