Jul 9th 2012 07:59 am Pain in the neck
In the space of a week, we’ve lost Andy Griffith and Ernest Borgnine. Together, they constitutued about 75 percent of my television viewing when I was a kid. Two of my favorite shows were “The Andy Griffith Show” and “McHale’s Navy,” starring Mr. Borgnine. I don’t think it’s any coincidence both comedies featured a second-in-command (Don Knotts as Barney Fife and Tim Conway as Ensign Parker) who were perfect in their roles, stealing their respective shows to the benefit of all. Borgnine and the crew of PT 73 made going to war against the Japanese Imperial Navy in plywood speed boats look like so much fun.
Of course, both Griffth and Borgnine were stellar dramatic actors. As has been noted often in the past week, “A Face in the Crowd,” starring Griffith, is one of the great movies of all time, and Borgnine was in a number of memorable films, winning an Oscar for the title role in “Marty.” The world is a little different than it was a week ago.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
81 Responses to “Pain in the neck”
Mindy on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:09 am #
My late father-in-law knew Ernest Borgnine from his early days as an actor at the Barter Theater. I never knew him but heard many stories about what an intelligent and friendly man he was. I did get to form my own opinion on Mr. Borgnine’s acting ability and often wished that I had also had a chance to meet him. You’re right, Jimmy, the world is a little different than it was and that’s not really a good thing. In his last role, a bit part in “Red,” he seemed so alive and vibrant.
redagainPatti on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:11 am #
I had the same feelings when “The Duke” – John Wayne, to others… passed away in 1979. I had just had my first born child and felt bad that she would grow up without him being such a big part of film world. It is truly different… but there are younger souls stepping up to the plate, to find their spot in the world, filling in the blank spots left by those we knew so well.
Galliglo in Ohio on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:30 am #
It IS a different world – not better, not necessarily worse – just different. I look at the actors in this next generation and I find few that can compare to those of my yourth and young adult-hood. However, they do speak to my children and grandchildren. We of the old guard are moving on…
Symply Fargone on 09 Jul 2012 at 9:01 am #
@GR6
From yesterday, my sister and I both fluent in French before English used to say Mercee BoKups all the time, deliberately mispronouncing it.
Missing Ernest big time, one of the best character actors ever, his range was phenomenal! Now a days the actors for the most part are not as good, but there are the exceptions! Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlize Theron are a few of the new guard who make movies worthwhile…J Fargone’s HO!
Steve the Rigger on 09 Jul 2012 at 9:03 am #
I’m starting to feel very old.
Speaking of celebrities, does anyone do the cryptoquote in the newspaper? You would certainly recognize today’s author.
Ruth on 09 Jul 2012 at 9:05 am #
I grew up watching “The Andy Griffith Show” but not “McHale’s Navy.” What I most associate Ernest Borgnine with is a clown. He came to Milwaukee almost every year to be the Grand Marshall of the Great Circus Parade where he always dressed as a clown. The Milwaukee Journal has a nice obit that focuses on his parade work and has a picture of hime in last year’s parade. It can be found at http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/ernie-32622rv-161738365.html
(I hope the link works, never posted on before).
John in Virginia on 09 Jul 2012 at 9:47 am #
I made a comment not long ago about John Wayne and one of the younger generation asked, “Who’s he, Dude?” American Culture reinvented itself after the Duke passed away with Clint Eastwood stepping into the role…but now he’s on the endangered species list himself along with Sean Connery and even Tommy Lee Jones. You’re right, though, Simply Fargone, but think about adding Colin Farrel with the Steve McQueen swagger — another great long gone — and one other guy I mentioned to Mindy the other day. She disagreed about the McQueen swagger but neither of us can even remember who I was talking about! Hello, Al!
Nancy in Bucks County on 09 Jul 2012 at 9:47 am #
We watched “The Dirty Dozen” over the weekend. Great film with Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland. The BluRay version is remarkably good.
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 09 Jul 2012 at 10:42 am #
I made the same observation about Tim Conway and Don Knotts. They later teamed up in some rather funny Disney films. They came to Western Michigan when my son was a student there and we had planned to attend but could not due to a scheduling conflict. I really wished that I had done that.
Kerry in Lake City Florida !!! on 09 Jul 2012 at 11:01 am #
Did you know? Ernest Borgnine has been doing cameos on Sponge Bob Square parks with Mr. Tim Conway. They play “Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy”. nuff said.
Kerry!!!
Robb on 09 Jul 2012 at 11:02 am #
Ernest in “Bad Day At Black Rock” portrayed the perfect villian he was so good at.
Kirk on 09 Jul 2012 at 11:22 am #
And in between Mayberry and Matlock Andy did a neat little satirical comedy called “Salvage 1″ about a junk dealer who built his own spaceship to salvage dead satellites. It made a lot of wry observations about bureaucracy while lauding individual inventiveness and perseverance. I just mention it because no one else has in anything I’ve read the last week. As to Mr. Borgnine, there’s no point starting, because you would have to go on and on or leave out something great. Amazing career.
Mindy on 09 Jul 2012 at 11:36 am #
“Bad Day at Black Rock” and “The Wild Bunch,” were two great Borgnine films. He worked extremely well off William Holden and Spencer Tracy, I thought.
Bryan on 09 Jul 2012 at 11:59 am #
Nobody has mentioned another actor from a 60s sitcom that could never be made today – Richard Dawson of Hogan’s Heros fame.
Mindy on 09 Jul 2012 at 12:39 pm #
Hogan’s Heroes is worth not mentioning, Bryan. Dawson did have a great sense of humor, though, and he was seldom stuck for a reply on whatever that game show he hosted was called.
Dave in MA on 09 Jul 2012 at 1:14 pm #
Hogan’s Heroes was one of the best TV shows ever produced.
The game show was Family Feud.
Neal in Bahstawn on 09 Jul 2012 at 1:15 pm #
In reading Ernest Borgnine’s obituary, I learned that he was in the Navy from 1935-45, including being a gunner’s mate during World War II. Gunner’s mates were a high-casulty position: their job was to feed ammo to the gunner and the person was frequently exposed to whatever hostile fire was out there. I already had high respect for Borgnine as an actor. His selflessness as a WWII vet just earned him an extra salute.
Sylvia in MS on 09 Jul 2012 at 1:20 pm #
Every time one of the “oldies but goodies” passes on, I feel sad. Another little piece of my childhood passed by over this last week. I loved Andy Griffith and Ernest Borgnine for the comedy they brought each week. One of the funniest comedy bits that I’ve heard in a long time is of Andy Griffith’s trip to a football game. Our local Gospel music radio station began playing his rendition a while back and I love it. Had not heard it before and in typical Andy fashion, it’s hilarious!
sideburns on 09 Jul 2012 at 1:31 pm #
Traditionally, Neal, the person in charge of maintaining, repairing and using a ship’s weapons was the ship’s Gunner. His assistants and apprentices were called the Gunner’s mates, just as the Bosun’s assistants were Bosun’s mates and so on. Not all (or even most) WW II Gunner’s Mates were ammo handlers; they also loaded, pointed and fired the weapons, both the exposed anti-aircraft guns and the larger, turret mounted main and secondary batteries.
However, they weren’t involved in working out the aiming. That was done by a second specialist, the Firecontrol Tech. I know, because back in ’72, I was a Firecontrol Tech on the USS Ouelett, DE 1077 (Later changed to the FF 1077 to comply with NATO designations.) in Tonkin Gulf.
Mindy on 09 Jul 2012 at 1:49 pm #
No offense meant, Dave.
Boise Ed on 09 Jul 2012 at 2:07 pm #
In today’s A&J, it’s clear that Arlo isn’t in the Texas drought country. They are running our of cool water.
Boise Ed on 09 Jul 2012 at 2:07 pm #
Make that “running out of cool water.” (Too bad this page doesn’t let us edit our comments.)
Dave in MA on 09 Jul 2012 at 2:20 pm #
Mindy,
None taken or implied.
Dave
Bill in Paducah on 09 Jul 2012 at 2:53 pm #
Jimmy – you didn’t tell us you were a TV star!
http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/68348573/Entertainment/Arlo-&-Janis—-Jimmy-Johnson
(Sorry to be a pain in the neck!)
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 09 Jul 2012 at 3:09 pm #
Steve/Rigger: Yep, I do so, every day. I was surprised to learn that today’s author was known enough to be cited thus….
From yesterday: Cymru fo am byth!
For some other GB friends, “Ciamar a tha sibh?” or “Ciamar a tha thu?”, depending upon how formal you wish to be. {I KNEW those very brief sessions in said languages would someday be useful!!}
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 09 Jul 2012 at 3:09 pm #
Jimmy:
Maybe it is time to run another “Upcoming Events” book signing. I enjoyed listening to you on the Trib link, but it sounded like you were in Chicago? I think that the blog is the perfect outlet for promoting these book signings. If you make it to the Detroit area, I might be a bit peeved if I didn’t know about it
Galliglo in Ohio on 09 Jul 2012 at 3:36 pm #
Why am I not surprised that Jimmy has a Southern accent? Love it!
Bob, near Mark on 09 Jul 2012 at 3:58 pm #
When I moved back home to the Boston area after 4 years in the Southwest, a woman at work said to me, “You’re not from around here, are you!”
I find that it doesn’t take long to start picking up bits of the local accent wherever I am. I just can’t get my North-of-Boston accent back, though.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 09 Jul 2012 at 4:25 pm #
Mark in TTown:
“So it’s Welsh, is it? Hadn’t expected that. I can’t read it but I can recognize it.” Me, too. The question is, can we pronounce it. I think maybe it’s worse than Finnish. Finglish, on the other hand, isn’t so bad, once you’ve mastered the Ode to St. Urho. As mentioned here before, perhaps on a March 16th, you can find St. Urho on various websites.
Hoag in MA on 09 Jul 2012 at 5:29 pm #
One of my favorite Borgnine tangents is that he was one half of Hollywood/Broadway’s great battling marriages. Ernie and Ethel Merman’s marriage was relatively short but the stories of the battles were legendary.
Ghost Rider 6 on 09 Jul 2012 at 6:09 pm #
If any of the current crop of thirty-something and forty-something actors make it to their eighties and nineties, will they be as well-remembered, and as well-regarded, at their passing as Mr. Griffith and Mr. Borgnine? Personally, I’m doubtful.
Mindy on 09 Jul 2012 at 6:16 pm #
Some will, Ghost. Some will. Not all of the Griffith/Borgnine eras are all that well remembered or well regarded. No one, for instance, knows what happened to Jack Oakey or Paul Fix.
Mindy on 09 Jul 2012 at 6:16 pm #
Bet you have to Google those! LOL!
Mark in Boston on 09 Jul 2012 at 6:34 pm #
Eric Sykes died this past week too. You’d probably have to have watched British or Canadian TV in order to know who he was. (My grandmother lived within TV signal range of Montreal.)
Other than that, he occasionally wrote for The Goon Show, and he had a small part in one of the Harry Potter movies.
Bob, near Mark on 09 Jul 2012 at 6:41 pm #
Mindy, I’m not THAT young! …although I am more familiar with the work of Paul Fix. Jack Oakie not so much, but he isn’t unknown.
I was watching the pilot episode of “The Rifleman” over the weekend. Paul Fix was not yet in the cast as Marshal Micah Torrance, but I thought I caught a very brief glimpse of him coming through the door as the town doctor. It went by so quickly I wasn’t sure.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 09 Jul 2012 at 6:44 pm #
Back when I used to watch TV, one of wife’s and my favorites was “The Two Ronnies” on CBC. I think maybe people will look back favorably on Lily Tomlin, and maybe Godlie Hawn. Too bad about Judy[?] Carne.
Mark in TTown on 09 Jul 2012 at 7:33 pm #
Bill in Paducah: thanks for the video link. I enjoyed seeing Jimmy and hearing him speak. Maybe someday I can see him in person.
There is going to be a gaming convention in Birmingham the last weekend of July called PlayOnCon. I have no connection to it but think I might be going. Anybody else who likes wargames or role-playing, Trek, etc. would probably like it. Don’t think it has any comic connections but maybe I should take The Book and show it around.
Ghost Rider 6 on 09 Jul 2012 at 7:39 pm #
I did come up with one actor who might meet the admittedly limiting criteria I established, assuming he lives another 40 years or so…Russell Crowe, aged 48. Yeah, maybe Russell Ira Crowe, aka Maximus Decimus Meridius.
Hey, how’d we get back to Latin?
sideburns on 09 Jul 2012 at 7:42 pm #
Jack Oakey was very popular back in the ’30s, Mindy. That’s why he got top billing in Million Dollar Legs in ’32 instead of W.C. Fields. Now, he’s almost forgotten. Norma Shearer was not only queen of the MGM lot (or, more accurately, co-queen along with Joan Crawford) she very popular and a big box office draw. Now, almost nobody knows who she was. It just goes to show that nobody can predict who’s going to be remembered and who isn’t when it comes to films. You just have to wait and see.
Mark in TTown on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:44 pm #
Sideburns, it also depends on how vocal a modern-day group of fans is in getting the old stuff reissued. Things that have been seen on TV develop a modern fan base, while the movies that stay in the vaults are unknown. Three cheers for Turner Classic Movies for releasing the oldies but goodies to cable. And a tip of the hat to Kino Video for putting the silents on DVD in restored form. I have their Phantom of the Opera and a Buster Keaton set in VHS format and they are both great. The Phantom of the Opera not only has the original hand-tinted scenes but some two-strip Technicolor of Lon Chaney as the Red Death in the masquerade scene.
sideburns on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:46 pm #
Well, that’s true, Mark, but why didn’t Norma Shearer stay popular like Clark Gable or Bette Davis did?
Bob, near Mark on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:47 pm #
A silent-era actress I thought interesting, not only for her popularity but also for her stage name, was Theda Bara. Born Theodosia Burr Goodman, her stage name was a publicity stunt – an anagram for “Arab Death”. She made her last film almost 20 years before I was born, but I cannot remember not knowing her name.
Mindy from Indy on 09 Jul 2012 at 8:53 pm #
emeritus Minnesota biologist, Ah yes, with “sock it to me” and “one ringy-dingy” mentioned at least once in their respective obituaries. Loved watching Laugh-In on Nick at Nite at my grandparents’ house. Never liked Mary Tyler Moore (scandalous, I know), but loved Dick Van Dyke. He, Wilford Brimley, Ralph Waite, and Tom Bosley are some of my small screen favorites.
Richard Dawson + The Match Game = Best game show ever. (Although Brett Somers and Nelson C. Reilly could hold their own.)
Bob, near Mark on 09 Jul 2012 at 9:52 pm #
Bret Somers. From 1953 until her death in 2007, Mrs. Jack Klugman.
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 12:48 am #
What fascinates me is that so many of the”super” and “talented” television stars of the 70s, in retrospect, were only mediocre. I’ll give 11 to three that, 30 years from now, the same will hold true for the bulk of the “stars” on television today. Of course, today’s fare is primarily “reality television” and CSI Everywhere.
Mr.Q on 10 Jul 2012 at 7:10 am #
“Hey Andy. Goober says ‘hey’.”
“Hey to Goober.”
Symply Fargone on 10 Jul 2012 at 9:46 am #
@Bob near Mark,
My girl is like me, from Worcester (Wuss’ tuh, for you non Worcesterites) but has just returned to Massachusetts after a 32 year hiatus in San Antonio, as a result she has no accent, but delights when i revert back to my heavy birth dialect….the classic “Pahk yuh kah in Hahvahd yahd” sound…..funny her time in TX seems to have given her a surfeit of “ahs”(Rs) to enunciate whilst I seem devoid of the “suckuhs”.
@Anyone discussing movies and stars,
I think the great ones stand the test of time regardless of the era. I still will watch Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Bell Book and Candle just to mention several off the top from days before I was born. Same for the actors….it used to be Bogart, Bacall, Monroe, then it was Hoffman, Pacino and Duvall and then Close, Depp and Dicaprio, there is always someone Symply Fargone waiting in the wings.
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 10:55 am #
“The Two Ronnies,” eMb? Okay, one was Reagan. Who was the other?
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 10:56 am #
President Reagan, sorry. I did respect him even if he slept through Panama and Grenada.
John in Virginia on 10 Jul 2012 at 11:24 am #
McDonald, Mindy. [Wow! Raven haired blondes are totally awesome, like, for sure.]
That starts a battle at home. How’s about raking the muck here, now? CNN reports that [one of about 50,000 daily] recent studies say, without a doubt and without any latitude for dissent, that movies that show smoking or other use [we were on actors and someone mentioned Casablanca, so this isn't too far off course] should automatically get an R rating. Smoking is bad. Smoking is ugly. Smoking is sinful [the Devil Weed, after all]. Smoking is disgusting. All people who smoke should be beaten, crucified, stoned, set on fire and then hurt. [I'm a non-smoker; I quit around 8 years ago. I'm actually being rather cynical and do not share the kill-them-all attitudes of the militant anti-tobacco lobby.] Well, if that’s the case, shouldn’t alcohol use be an automatic X rating? [Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, but for information purposes, I'm a former drinker as well, 27 years on the wagon, and I don't think drinkers should be beaten, crucified, etc., either.] Which is worse? I can only think of ONE tobacco-related traffic fatality in the past two decades but alcohol-related traffic fatalities are an almost daily thing; I can not think of a single incidence where tobacco use broke up a family although I’ve seen that beaucoup times over the years for alcohol abuse.
The Thought Police and the Politically Correct Sicherheitsdienst are surely frothing at the mouth, no? [I don't think I spelled the SS-SD incorrectly.]
That said, who will be the first to beat, cruficy, etc. me for being so incorrect?
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 11:35 am #
Alas, I come to John’s defense. He didn’t explain that he doesn’t try to stop anyone from drinking, he doesn’t judge those who do, but he does take exception to drunks that throw up on his lap. As for smoking, I’ve never heard him condemn anyone who smokes although, for health reasons, he asks that no one smokes in our house or in an automobile with him. The only people I’ve ever heard him try to talk out of smoking were young people and he was never pushy or authoritative. That said, I think movies that show people eating beets should be banned from distribution.
We do have diverse topics in here, don’t we?
Boise Ed on 10 Jul 2012 at 11:42 am #
Bill in Paducah, thanks much for the link to JJ’s interview.
Jerry in Fl on 10 Jul 2012 at 12:42 pm #
Virus had been predicted for monday. My put’r turned itself on at 2 am this morning. Mindy, don’t go there.
sandcastler on 10 Jul 2012 at 12:46 pm #
Damn John, hope for Mindy’s you have not given up all the vices.
I stopped smoking thirty-three years ago. Drink in moderation. Gamble at the quarter slots. But still am tempted by a lovely lady.
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 1:03 pm #
Whatever do you mean, Jerry?
[She asked innocently.]
Sandcastler, John gave up two vices. I didn’t say he’d become ascetic, celibate or even moderate in his enjoyment of epicurean excesses. He simply has more energy than ever…which means that he can haul off bamboo roots with flair and ease.
Uh huh.
John in Richmond Texas on 10 Jul 2012 at 1:03 pm #
Great to see JJ speak ! When asked if he was ready for another 25 years, he said maybe 10. I wonder if he might plan ahead like Agatha Christie with Hercule Poirot. She wrote his final story and kept it on the shelf til the very end decades later: JJ could spend years deciding just how A&J should end.
Robin in Fl on 10 Jul 2012 at 2:05 pm #
Bill in Paducah
I add my thanks for the video link.
sideburns on 10 Jul 2012 at 2:28 pm #
She did the same thing, John, for Miss Marple, keeping The Sleeping Murder up-to-date and ready to close that series off after she died.
Galliglo in Ohio on 10 Jul 2012 at 3:13 pm #
I made a comment regarding Jimmy’s accent – I hope no one was offended (especially Jimmy)! I was actually quite charmed.
I was reminded of – lo, many years ago – when I went for an interview for my first full-time job at Bowling Green State University, just south of Toledo, OH. During the interview, I was asked – “What part of the south are you from?” My ingenious (and naive) response: “Southern Ohio!” Evidently the response was not a turn-off, for I was hired.
Within a couple of weeks I was speaking like all those other northern Ohio folk. When I went home for a visit, my family thought I “talked funny.” After a few days in southern Ohio, the northern folk thought I “talked funny.”
I am just one of those fortunate – or unfortunate – people who pick up accents very easily and start talking like the ones I am with. Evidently, my subconsious instructs me – when in Rome…
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 10 Jul 2012 at 4:31 pm #
Mindy: ” ‘The Two Ronnies,’ eMb? Okay, one was Reagan. Who was the other?” I assume you really don’t know. They were a BBC program aired on CBC, whch I presume we pulled in from Winnipeg. They were on the air decades ago, perhaps when you were a toddler or maybe weren’t even a gleam in your father’s eye. Two comics, both really named Ronnie, don’t remember their last names but you can find them via a search engine and maybe watch a few episodes. One was tall and overweight, and generally jovial, the other quite short and more the cynic or wise guy. Played off each other beautifully. Typical outrageous Brit comedy skits, far better IMO than Benny Hill. I read somewhere 2-3 years ago that the bigger Ronnie had died.
Mark in TTown on 10 Jul 2012 at 4:49 pm #
Galliglo, as one of those with an Alabama accent, I assure you no offense was taken. When the entertainment media plays on it though, it gets very offensive due to the stereotyped behavior associated with it.
My accent has come and gone through the years as my family moved around a bit when I was young. When I came back to Alabama after living in Texas for several months I was told I sounded Texan. Somehow I seem able to pick up someone’s accent/speech patterns if I listen for a while. I have to be careful though as I don’t want to seem to be deliberately imitating someone and offending them.
Where has JJ gone? It’s not Thursday yet and July 4th was last week.
Mary in Ohio on 10 Jul 2012 at 4:57 pm #
When I got around to solving yesterday’s cryptoquote, I realied you must not have meant the Gazette’s verssion, which is properly called “Celebrity Cipher.” The speaker was Franklin D. Roosevelt, a name I certainly recognized, but I guess that’s not the person referred to. So who was in the real cryptoquote?
Galliglo in Ohio on 10 Jul 2012 at 5:50 pm #
Mark in TTown: I also have to be careful – in fear that someone thinks I am “mocking” them.
debbie on 10 Jul 2012 at 6:26 pm #
hey you guys; I’ve missed you all…..I have been following some.
just dropping in; I would have married that Barney Fife in one short New York minute.
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 6:59 pm #
eMb, if it wasn’t Python, it wasn’t comedy.
Ghost Rider 6 on 10 Jul 2012 at 7:07 pm #
debbie!! Geez, darlin’, you had me worried. Missed ya. You OK?
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 10 Jul 2012 at 7:58 pm #
Python was ok, and I’ve watched a good chunk of both, as well as Laugh-In. De gustibus . . .
TruckerRon on 10 Jul 2012 at 8:10 pm #
Like him or not, Ronald Reagan was effective in the goals he set for his presidency. And his sleeping through meetings was a myth… which he laughed at.
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 10 Jul 2012 at 8:20 pm #
There have been a few Presidents that I wished had slept through their presidencies rather than the actions that they undertook.
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 8:21 pm #
I did not say I didn’t like him, TruckerRon! One of the best.
Ghost Rider 6 on 10 Jul 2012 at 8:22 pm #
John: And the “raven haired blonde” of whom you spoke would be…Mindy?
Mindy: “Hauling bamboo”…is that what the kids are calling it now? And roger on the beet-eaters.
I’ve been accused of having a near eidetic memory for jokes, and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard your Harry Potter joke, but I can’t retrieve it. I guess a family-friendly hint would be out of the question?
Mindy on 10 Jul 2012 at 9:22 pm #
The joke does not align itself with family-friendly, Ghost…except maybe the Manson family…
Ghost Rider 6 on 10 Jul 2012 at 9:32 pm #
Family-fiendly, then?
Mark in TTown on 10 Jul 2012 at 9:33 pm #
emeritus minnesota biologist: Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on “The Two Ronnies”. It says it was a BBC show, which probably accounts for why you got it on CBC.
Mark in TTown on 10 Jul 2012 at 9:33 pm #
Hey, Y’all. It would help if I actually added the link, wouldn’t it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Ronnies
Boise Ed on 11 Jul 2012 at 12:07 am #
I know that there are lots of men named Jim Johnson, but I had to chuckle today when I read “The [San Jose] Sharks continued their coaching staff makeover Tuesday, adding former NHL defenseman Jim Johnson as a key assistant …”
Mindy on 11 Jul 2012 at 1:00 am #
Great pun, Ghost!
David Cadogan on 11 Jul 2012 at 5:36 am #
When I read Jimmy’s comments about Andy Griffiths and Ernie Borgnine, I was reminded of when Charles Kuralt died and Arlo mourned him in the strip saying something to the effect that the world is a less colourful place without him. Some of you will remember when Kuralt had the best job in TV. He drove a motor home all over the US and did human interest features. One of the many things I like about Jimmy is that the people he celebrates are so genuine and down to earth. It makes me a little nervous to admit that I remember when Griffiths’s bit on football, “No Time For Sergeants” and “Marty,” were all brand new. In the discussion of classic performers and personalities, I’d like to add Jim Stewart to the discussion. A great actor, he was also one of the funniest talk show guests ever. He could easily have been a character in “Arlo and Janis”. May I say again, that I find the comments on this site just what I would expect from the kind of people who love that Jimmy shows human foibles as endearing. On we go!
Bill in Paducah on 11 Jul 2012 at 6:39 am #
debbie! Nice to see your smiling face back here. Hope you’ve been able to catch a&j – nice boat arc these last few weeks.
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 11 Jul 2012 at 7:56 am #
Mary/Ohio: The cited cryptogram author was Rheta Grimsley Johnson, JJ’s ex.
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 11 Jul 2012 at 8:05 am #
Mark:
“It says it was a BBC show, which probably accounts for why you got it on CBC.” See my first post about, above.
Thanks for the website. Thank may be the one I referred to.