DID YOU MISS THE HATE SPEECH IN THE PROFESSOR GATES ARREST INCIDENT?

The hate speech didn't come from Officer Crowley or Professor Gates and certainly didn't come from the 911 caller. It came from Wendy Murphy, the lawyer for the 911 caller. She introduced Lucia Whalen, the 911 caller at a press conference. She couldn't just introduce her, as things were calming down with Obama rightly saying all had overreacted. Ms. Murphy, (a former prosecuter and NFL cheerleader, what a combination) had to say that while the MEN, including the President, had overreacted, her client didn't and now the MEN were going to have a beer. She then said. "I guess it's a guy thing." Where to begin. First of all I was under the impression that women drank beer too. She had to inject gender into something that had no gender in it.

The implication is that surely a woman would never do something despicable in a 911 call. Remember Susan Smith who drowned her two young boys in a lake. (The car sank slowly). She called 911 and said two black men had kidnapped the boys.

As with all cases involving women comitting a serious crime all reporters cannot resist using their favorite word BIZARRE. A toddler was murdered in Florida in 2008 probably at the hands of her mother. The mother's name is Casey Anthony. When the murderer or perpetrator is of the female persuasion the media ALWAYS leads the public along with a tone suggesting this is an anomaly. Count how many times the word BIZARRE comes up. They love it, especially the female commentators because it cannotes something out of the ordinary. The subtext being men do this, not women. "It's just so bizarre!" How many times do we hear of infants being found in dumpsters put their by the birth mothers. A lot. Then there are the murderers who cut out the babies from other women.

Just down the road the same week as Wendy Murphy's sarcastic introduction Darlene Haynes, 23, was eight months pregnant when she was found mutilated dead in a closet in her apartment. Her unborn daughter, whom family said she planned to name Sheila Marie, had been cut out and taken. 35-year-old Julie Corey, who is accused of kidnapping the baby and fleeing to New Hampshire, was arrested and was ordered held on $2 million bail . She did not waive extradition to be brought back to Massachusetts, and the judge scheduled a hearing for Aug. 30.

Several times in recent years the women have killed the fetus too. We don't know the names of these women. They should be demonized as much as a name we know, Scott Peterson, who committed the exact same crime. Boy do we know his name.

I have always said that if you take a transcript of an Oprah Winfrey show which is almost exclusively based on women's issues and inserted the "N" word in place of the word "man" or "men" it would sound like a Ku Klux Klan rally. The atmosphere in the country has been this way for quite some time.en this way for quite some time.

Not too long ago a survey was conducted of 1000 radio and tv commercials. It was looking for a percentage of those 1000 commercials which depicted men as stupid, clueless or buffoons. They were shocked to learn that ALL 1000 commercials depicted men this way.

It has spilled into family court. I know this from personal experience. My story there would be enough for a separate blog. Let's just say my ex kept remarrying, then had abusive husband (number 3) adopt my daughter without my consent, changing husbands and states 3 times. I didn't know where my daughter was most of those years, so where was I supposed to send a child support check? My daugther is now 39. I haven't seen her since she was 8. The courts protected my ex all along the way. Every time pandering Oprah or those of her ilk talk about deadbeat dads I am right there in the statistics..

Walter Conkite just died. The "journalist" Katie Couric who sits in his chair on The CBS Evening News once giggled about a husband being castrated when she was on the Today Show. If her ambulance chasing partner Matt Lauer had snickered about female castration I think his career would have been over.

I agree with comedienne Paula Poundstone when she couldn't understand the glee some women had about the ending of the movie "Thelma and Louise" She said "Excuse me, murder is a crime."

The movie "Monster" makes some effort in explaining the reasons for serial killer Aileen Wournos. Let's quote from a review : "In the film it seemed that Wuornos killed to keep Selby happy and in love with her. There may be some truth to this, but I'm sure that the real Aileen Wuornos wanted the money just as much for herself. The real Wuornos had previously served time in jail for robbery. She was also previously married to a wealthy elderly man who had their marriage annulled, claiming that Wuornos had beat him with his cane to get more money out of him. The movie chose to ignore much of the deviant behavior in Wuornos' past. Instead, its focus was on a more compassionate side of Wuornos that was likely not as prevalent in reality. In the end, I realize that this is a movie and that most people in the audience will be unaware of Wuornos' life prior to what was chronicled in the film . However, the often caring, human side that I saw in the film may be more fiction than reality." By the way it is doubtful the star of the film Charlize Theron entered the project with an open mind. You see Charlize's mother in real life murdered her father. Charlize mother said it was self defense and was not charged. Charlize was 15 and watched the shooting.

One more Hollywood reference. When I went to San Diego State Film School in the early seventies my writing teacher Nate Monaster former head of the Writer's Guild went out of his way to say he hated Jerry Lewis, so did visiting speakers Rod Serling and director Jerry Paris. It was because he would be not only obnoxious as a film director but wouldn't let the crew do their jobs, micromanaging and screaming at everyone on the set. Barbra Streisand does the same thing and they say people call her difficult because she's a woman. No. She's Jerry Lewis.

Researchers say that 25 per cent of SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome cases are actually murders by the mothers, benignly referred to as Munchausen by proxy. I say there must be many cases where women aren't even investigated in murder cases because they put blinders on. They are afflicted by TJTB syndrome. "That's just too bizarre."

Andrea Yates down in Texas drowned her kids, is not in prison and is not viewed a culpable for the crime. Her 2002 conviction was overturned. John List killed his family in New Jersey for the same wacko religious reasons, died in prison and no effort is ever made to excuse his acts.

When male teachers have an affair with a female student they are viewed as rapists, pure and simple. No psychologists pile into tv studios to examine the motivation of these men.. When Mary Kay Letourneau is convicted of statutory rape she gets a sympathetic phone call from Oprah and is deemed as "in love".

Recently on a new MSNBC show "Morning Meeting" with Dylin Ratigan there was a story regarding a drunk driving conviction of a woman in a case where many people were killed. This lead to a discussion of recent statistics which show female DUI's are on the rise while DUI's of men are declining. Women on the panel went directly into an insane defensive mode. Well women are more in business now and they are smaller in stature and in these informal business meetings they are asked to match drink for drink. I'm 63, a male and NEVER EVER in business or otherwise have been pressured to match drink for drink on any ocassion. As for physical stature one would therefore conclude that Mickey Rooney would have killed a thousand people by now.

I want equality. If you think Jerry Lewis is an ass don't base it on his anatomy. The same goes for Barbra Steisand. If you think a teacher is wrong to have sex with a student please don't say boys enjoy it more and the female teacher is just in love. Male and female teachers doing that are equally statutory rapists. If a parent murders a child they are equally murderers. Save the reasons for criminologists.

Instead of knocking three men having a beer at the White House (which was the suggestion of the cop) I'd love to know about women sitting down with men and having some drinks and talking without demonizing each other.

But then there was the immature lunch meetings on "Sex and The City". That show was very sucessful. Should we say it's a girl thing? Bizarre world.

The Night I Met Frank

It was Spring Break, April 1966. As a college student I wasn't going to do the classic "Where the Boys are" Florida trip until the following year. But it was still exciting. We lived in Baldwin Long Island and my parents were going to take the family to Las Vegas.

Ever since 1959's "Mack The Knife" by Bobby Darin my wayward ways away from my generation had begun. Presley, classic rock and roll , Motown and the Beatles were ok but not my cup of tea. Months before Darin's big hit, on July 4th 1958 at age 12 I went to my first jazz concert in Atlantic City New Jersey. And what a concert it was. The Count Basie Orchestra, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Dinah Washington, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. I was hooked, then after Darin I progressed to Frank Sinatra. In the New York City area WNEW was the summit for this type of music and people like Ted Brown and William B Williams, the first to call Frank Sinatra "Chairman of the Board", fed me more and more of Frank and Jazz.

In 1964 I was the office boy in New York at my father's advertising agency at 488 Madison avenue, "The Look Magazine Building". I worked as a gofer with the graphic artists the Walsh Brothers, Mike and Marty. Both were great fun, they loved jazz and the movies. Sometimes at their drafting tables the would run though all the diologue between John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in "Red River".

Marty was the younger of the two and he tooked me under his wing, especially during lunch time. We would go to the Blarney Stone or another Irish bar on Third Avenue for French Dipped sandwiches. On the way he would guide me in building my collection of Frank Sinatra LP's. I would have to get "A Swingin' Affair" but in the seminal "Song's for Swinging Lover's" I must notice the way Frank gets in all the words in phrasing of "Too Marvelous for For Words" when he repeats "ever be ever be in Webster's Dictionary". On the way back to the office we would go to a record shop up creaking wooden steps on 44th street. As you went up you saw the words painted on some of the steps "Everything from Bunk to Monk" Legend had it that the great Jazz sax player Lester Young would slip up there surrounded by a million LP's, listen to Sinatra ballads and have tears in his eyes. At eighteen I had some educational lunches. Fast forward 20 months.

So now we were landing in Vegas six years after the original "Ocean's Eleven" and five months after Sinatra's 50th birthday. He had been everywhere for that celebration, I had seen him the first time at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. The first of his great TV specials, then getting a pie in the face on The Soupy Sales Show (along with William B Willams, Sammy Davis and Trini Lopez), the LP's "Sinatra At the Sands" and "A Man and His Music". Then there was the movie "Von Ryan's Express" with ending that still bothers a lot of people.

We checked into the Dunes hotel next to a new hole in the Vegas ground. Something called Caesar's Palace was going to be built soon. The marque at the Sands said Dean Martin so I thought we would at least see a piece of the pack but not the leader. I was 19 but was trying to act adult as I wandered through the Dunes during the day. I was really there, slots, people yelling at the crap tables. Under age but tall, security left me alone. Then some at the crap tables started to whisper to each other. As I walked on I heard people walking around talking excitedly. I heard "Did you hear..." What the hell was it? I walked where the crap yellers weren't so loud. "Sinatra's turning his plane around. He's coming here!" Then I heard it again. "He's coming in with a bunch of people. Mexico wouldn't let him land!" I ran up to my parents in the room.

My father wasn't sure if it was really true. My mother thought it was probably wrong gossip. I pressed on. "What if it was true? They say he will take the stage tonight! You gotta call Murray."
Most of the ad agency's business in New York was industrial chemicals, BASF, Continental Oil but there was a sports connection. Some business conducted with offices space leased to people like Murray Goodman. Murray was a classic old time boxing promoter and columnist, short of stature, cigar in hand and a devilish grin on his face. He knew everyone from Joe Lewis to Jane Mansfield. His son, Bob, a little older than me, would sometimes come to the office with him. Bob is now Don King's main man. So my father finally did call Murray back in New York. Murray called Jack Entratter in Vegas who ran the Sands.. Murray secured us ringside seats for that night, but did not verify who would be on stage besides Dean Martin.

Even with reservations there was a long line to wait to get into the dinner show (price $9.95 each). There was to be five of us, friends of my parents, Charlie and Milred Emmanuel and me . Charlie knew some other notorious Frank fans. Charlie ran most of the car rentals at JFK airport and had do deal with some colorful characters. My younger sister Barbara, earlier in the day had thrown a tantrum wanting to fly back to her friends on Long Island. She flew back that afternoon living to regret the night she would miss, April 13th, 1966.

The cocktail waitresses kept coming by the line with more drinks. Years later my father would have to join AA but he was in booze heaven that night. We finally are seated ringside thanks to Murray and ate and drank some more. I was not being carded. Just before the lights dim my father says "You better be right." It was dark and silent. Somewhere at mid stage, a match lit. Then the voice.."When I was seventeen it was a very good year...." The place went crazy. Needless to say what a great show it was. Dean Martin sang his recent hit "Houston" They did their stick with the portable bar rolled out. Joey Bishop skipped on stage carrying a lantern. Don't remember what that was about. Other friends like Tony Curtis who were on the plane were there. The night before they were trying to land Sinatra's private jet at Mexico City. Who ever was head of the Mexican government at that time told the airport not to let Sinatra land. It seems they were pissed at Frank's most recent film "Marriage on the Rock's" which made fun of quicky Mexican divorces. So fate was with Rat Pack fans that week in Las Vegas. As it turned out it was the very last time they were to be on stage together at The Sands.

And so my father kept drinking through the show. We left the Copa Room with the Basie beat in our ears. Yes we had the Count too. We found ourselves at the small cocktail lounge on the side of the casino. It led to the dining room. The women in our group went to the ladies room. My father and I approached the bar. It was full and we were standing behind two seated gentlemen. God it was Count Basie and his sax man Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. So what does my marinated father do? He slaps Count Basie on the back. He didn't know Count Basie. "Hey Count! Let me buy you guys a drink!" Count and Lockjaw smile and say sure. It's neat but I'm concerned what my father is going to do next. After all I'm trying to be a cool adult.

Then oh shit out of the corner of my eye heading for the bar, alone, no bodyguards, comes Frank Sinatra. He approaches his pal Basie. We look like Basie pals. My father turns toward Frank. Oh shit. Why didn't I go to the ladies room too. "Frank!" he yells. My father didn't know Frank Sinatra. "This kid loves you! He's got all your records!" I was 19 trying to act 30. Now I'm six. "Frank, can he have your autograph?" I did not collect autographs. I turn to look at those blue eyes. Those eyes are penetrating my father's eyes. What was he thinking should be done with my father? Whatever it was, was probably kinder than what I wanted. Sinatra turns to look at me, in the throes of a nervous breakdown. The blue eyes soften. My father shoves a pen in his hand, Frank signs a table card and goes on into dinner with songwriter Sammy Cahn.

I look at my father. "What, what?", he says. I shake my head. The ladies return and they all head for the gambling. I tell them this night I'm staying out. I will see them later. I continue to stroll the casino. Sinatra is everywhere, laughing, greeting ladies at the slot machines. He goes to the change booth and kiddingly demands mexican pesos. I keep a safe distance to watch the fun. Hours race by. It's now 3 a.m. and there are good sounds coming out of the lounge. You could stand on the side and watch it for free.
This is what was going on......
www.youtube.com/watch?v=chldTHoJRi4

It was Louis Prima and fifth and final wife singer Gia Miaone along with Sam Butera and the Witnesses. The joint was jumping. I look and in the front row is Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. A few songs more and they are up on stage with the whole group. I can't believe what I am watching for free. It goes on and on. I leave at 6 am and begin walking down the strip towards The Dunes. The sun is coming up. Why isn't Sammy Davis next to me singing Eeee Oh Eleven?

What a night। When I get to the room my parents were packing while getting ready to call the police. We were flying out a 9 am. My father thought I had found a hooker. I didn't have money for one but it was a nice thought.

I saw Frank again in 1976 at Caesar's Palace and in 1986 at The Golden Nugget. He still sounded great but how could it match The Rat Pack's last stand at The Sands?

They blew it up in 1996. Now the stages are a mile wide. Magic acts, smoke, lasers and Celine Dione. I don't think so.

THE POPE: MORE EVIL THAN OSAMA BIN LADEN

The smiling creature in the red robes is worse than Tony Soprano, has effected more lives than any mafia don you can think of.

The Organized Crime Control Act (U.S., 1970) defines organized crime as "The unlawful activities of ... a highly organized, disciplined association...". Sounds about right. We will go through the statistics

offered by reputable studies on the WORLDWIDE (not just here as suggested by the last Pope who they are rushing to make a saint) molestation of altar boys. Let's see how "The Holy Father" stacks up in the evil derby against Osama.

Just as I was formulating this as my next blog, Bill Maher beat me to the punch. Organized religion is organized religion and abused teenagers, male or female, brainwashed or not, are abused teenagers. So I don't think Bill Maher was comparing apples and oranges when he said the following on a recent show. " I know what you're thinking. Bill, you can't be saying that the Catholic Church is no better than this creepy Texas cult. For one thing, altar boys can't even get pregnant. But really, what tripped up the little cult on the prairie was that they only abused hundreds of kids, not thousands all over the world. Cults get raided; religions get parades.
How does the Catholic Church get away with all of their buggery? Volume, volume, volume. If you have a few hundred followers and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you pope."


The Pope, used to be called Cardinal Ratzinger, perfect name for a former Nazi don't you think. Oh yes, he was a teenager and forced into it. Mmmmmmm, sound familiar. I guess since he chose not to climb into the hills of Switzerland a la Julie Andrews and the kids, but to remain and shoot anti aircraft guns at American planes for well over a year, he thinks thousands upon thousands of altarboys should stick with the program of getting raped over and over again. Why make waves? These guys have uniforms. But I digress.


Cardinal Ratzinger was Frank Nitti to Pope John Paul II's Al Capone. In the job John Paul Capone gave him, Ratzinger Nitti wrote a memo to the bishops instructing them to cover up for the child raping priests until their statute of limitations ran out. That can't be true you say. Well it is and he did a lot more to conspire to let these priests continue, all over the world. What if the head of Time Warner, Hershey Chocolate, or United Airlines, or you or me for that matter, were found to have been involved in a conspiracy to not only cover up but to encourage (through transfers) the molestation and rape of thousands of young boys? You can imagine the length of sentences handed down. So what did the United States do a few weeks ago? Gave him the parades and fancy lunches Maher speaks of.


OH PARDON US BOYS - NIXON HAD FORD, THIS POPE HAS BUSH


In May 2005 lawyers for Pope Benedict XVI asked US President George W. Bush to declare the pontiff immune from liability in a lawsuit that accuses him of conspiring to cover up the molestation of three boys by a seminarian in Texas. Texas, it's not another country. But hey, if you think you are and want to go, go. You won't escape Frank Nitti though. He's global.

The Vatican's embassy in Washington sent a diplomatic memo to the State Department on May 20, 2005 requesting the US government grant the pope immunity because he is a head of state, according to a May 26 motion submitted by the pope's lawyers in US District Court for the Southern Division of Texas in Houston.
Joseph Ratzinger was named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit. Now Benedict XVI, accused of conspiring with the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to cover up the abuse during the mid-1990s. The suit sought unspecified monetary damages.

International legal experts said it would be "virtually impossible" for the case to succeed because the pope, as a head of state, had diplomatic immunity. "There's really no question at all, not the vaguest legal doubt, that he's immune from the suit, period," said Paolo Carozza, an international law specialist at the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Nevertheless, lawyers for abuse victims said the case was significant because previous attempts to implicate the Vatican, the pope or other high-ranking church officials in US sex abuse proceedings failed - primarily because of immunity claims and the difficulty serving top Vatican officials with US lawsuits.

Attorney Daniel Shea, who represented one of the three boys in the civil suit in Houston, said that then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who headed the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before becoming pope, was involved in a conspiracy to hide Patino-Arango's crimes and to help him escape prosecution.

In the lawsuit, Shea cited that May 18, 2001, letter from Ratzinger, written in Latin to bishops around the world, explaining that "grave" crimes such as the sexual abuse of minors would be handled by his congregation. The proceedings of special church tribunals handling the cases were subject to "pontifical secret," Ratzinger's letter says. "Ratzinger's involvement arises out of this letter, which demonstrates the clear intent to conceal the crimes involved," Shea said.

Well, George W. pardoned the current Pope in advance anyway, just to be safe and just like Ford did for Nixon. But for thousands of victims their long nightmare will never be over.



The John Jay Report was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and was based on surveys completed by the Catholic dioceses in the United States. So we are talking about a report based on a truth level tantamount to....pick your poison...General Westmoreland's body count in Vietnam, or , say Colin Powell, the man who back then helped cover up the Mi Lai massacre..yeah that guy, who gave such a masterful report on all those WMDs in his report to sell the Iraq war at the UN. Whatever, let's just go with the phony low ball numbers of The John Jay Report..4,392 priests in the U.S. alone. Instead of hundreds of altarboys as has been widely reported for many many priests, let's give them ten a piece. That's slightly under 44,000 lives severely damaged. How many died on 911? under 4,000 I think.


Unlike Osama, the Pope couldn't run into a cave. He had better digs. Why run? Was there anybody with any real power chasing him? The U. S. bishops did their part. Even though they were running from responsibility, fighting the suits at every turn, a lot of victims won in court. What did the church do? Of course on instructions from the Vatican, the following dioceses declared bankruptcy to beat the financial rap. Portland, Oregon. Spokane, Washington. Tuscon Arizona. Davenport, Iowa. San Diego, Ca.


And what does Bill O'Reilly say about Maher? That it's open season on Christians, yes the old liberal bias, not mentioning that Maher, like George Carlin, is an equal opportunity attacker when it comes to organized religion.

I sometimes think I could have stopped O'Reilly. I didn't know it at the time but when I was a senior at Chaminade High School on long Island in 1964, O'Reilly was a freshman. Don't know what I could've done but maybe if it was gonna be bad PR for the school and the Church, those wonderful Marist Brothers would have covered it up for me.


Other Celebrity graduates of my high school: Actor Brian Dennehy, class of '56, who for years gave interviews elaborating his military service in Vietnam. He later begged the author of "Stolen Valour" not to publish that Dennehy had never gotten further than Guam. The one that got me to tell them to cancel their alumni junk mail to me, was former Senator Alphonse D'amato, class of '55. I watched on C-Span as a vote was being debated on the senate floor to provide a little money to the poor workers at Studebaker who had lost their pensions. Never had I seen such passion on tv as D'amato shouted that hey shouldn't get a dime. Ahh, what would Jesus do, Al? No need to ask, haven't spoken to him lately but if he's like some say he is, he left the building while Ratzinger was at that anti aircraft gun.

So Little King George, you say, " wanted, dead or alive" for Osama, then pardon and have lunch with Ratzinger. I say they are both evil but the guy at lunch wins the prize.

Recommended viewing: Rent a DVD documentary called "Deliver Us From Evil"

Go to a theater and see "Religulous" this October , Bill Maher's documentary on organized religion.

HEATHER, GET BACK TO WHERE YOU ONCE BELONGED

These are the unpleasant facts.

Heather Mills and Paul McCartney announced their separation in 2006, leading to an acrimonious divorce battle, the run-up to which was played out in public, most notably in the British tabloids.
In March 2008, Mills was awarded £24.3 million ($48.7 million), plus payments of £35,000 ($70,000) per annum, and nanny and school costs for their daughter, Beatrice. In his judgment, Mr Justice Bennett described Mills as a "kindly person" who is devoted to her charitable causes, with a strong-willed and determined personality, who has shown great fortitude in overcoming her disability, and who argued her case with a "steely, yet courteous, determination." He added that he regretted to say her testimony appeared "inconsistent and inaccurate", and "less than candid." Feelings reportedly ran high during the hearing, to the point where Mills poured a jug of water over the head of McCartney's solicitor, Fiona Shackleton।

Apparently Heather wound up with less than she was offered before she became her own attorney, a measely 48 million. She then declared victory, must be a McCain fan. Yes Paul can afford it. But how did she earn THAT much? If his first wife Linda got something like that I could see it. Linda, who was the love of his life, was a part of his band, Wings.

This is just a poor excuse for me to drift back to when I saw the Beatles in person. It was August 1964 and it was to be the Beatles first appearance in New York. No not Shea Stadium. And by the way, Boomers and others, Elvis Presley's first television network appearance was NOT The Ed Sullivan Show. The answer is down below. *

My father was riding high as part owner of an advertising agency located on the second floor of the Look Building at 488 Madison Avenue in New York City। Look was a long ago magazine that rivaled Life Magazine. It was the summer after my graduation from high school and I was the office boy. Our receptionist was Playboy Bunny material so this 18 year old had a tendency to hang aroung the front desk. I overheard her on the phone with a ticket broker. She was saying "really? No kidding." I said "What? What?" She put her hand over the mouthpiece and said that a company had just pulled out of purchasing the last 40 tickets to the first Beatles concert in New York City. I said "Hold the phone." Thus began my first business deal.

I went into my father's wall to wall white office and said I needed to borrow $280. right away. Yes, the Beatle tickets were $7. each. He said "Are you sure? " I told him this Beatle thing is big and I could make some money. That afternoon the tickets were mine.

Several of my friends of course wanted to go। But I had 40 tickets. I went all around Long Island telling people I had those last tickets to the Beatles. They didn't believe the tickets were real. In the end the tickets were sold to friends and friends of friends at $8 a piece.
So the big night arrived. We all drove into Queens to the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium where summer concerts happen every year. It is horsehoe shaped, seating 14,000, a stage opposite the horsehoe, grass down below. It was summer so plenty bright at 7 pm. The most excited in our group was Tim McGrath. He was a little twisted, later to survive Viet Nam, somewhat more twisted. He had a tendancy to unexpectedly break into singing the song "Sukiyaki" by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, which was a big hit here in 1963।

We waited the next hour as the seats filled up with an alarming amout of 13 year old girls। We waited some more as the sun started to sink. Everyone started to clap impatiently. Then the sound of a helicopter was heard approaching. It was a big blue one. Out beyond the stage was still more grass and that's where the helicopter landed. You could see them running toward the back of the stage: Ringo, John, Paul and George. Those 13 year old girls began to scream. They would never stop.

They took the stage। Down on the grass separating the seats and the stage there were wire fence baricades every 20 feet. Police were near the fences and the stage. While the girls screamed they constantly took flashbulb pictures. They went into their second song. We still couldn't hear them. Song three. Song Four. Tim Mcgrath was now holding his head bent down beneath his knees softly singing a very depressed version of "Sukiyaki".

Song Five, screaming and flashbulbs still going, three girls decided to go for it. They were climbing over the barriers down on the grass. Cops were trying to head them off. But one tall girl was beating the odds. Just missing a cop at the last barrier she got up onto the stage and wrapped herself around George Harrison's leg. Another girl almost made it but was tackled by a cop right on stage. More were coming. That was the end - 5 songs, 26 minutes. We didn't hear a note.

We could see them run back onto the helicopter. Shocked isn't quite the word to capture how we felt. I had planned that we go to manhattan that night to a comedy club called "Jackie Cannon's Rat Fink Room". ( 90 per cent of all comedians in the 50's 60's and 70's had the first name Jackie) It was fun but not enough to ease our pain.

We certainly detested those 13 year old girls।

Beware, they are 57 now and still out there. And so is Heather.

*Elvis Presley's first network television appearance was on January 28th 1956 on "Stage Show" starring Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, a summer replacement for Jackie Gleason. Presley didn't appear on Ed Sullivan until Sept. 9th, 1956

"Spin City" is Still Spinning

GARY DAVID GOLDBERG

The other day I was in Borders Books and sat down with a new autobiography " Sit, Ubu, Sit : How I Went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair" by Gary David Goldberg. After writing and producing shows at MTM Goldberg formed UBU Productions, famous for their closing of "Sit, Ubu, sit - good dog." Ubu Roi was Goldberg's dog in college. Under this banner, nine television series have been created, including the enormously successful Family Ties, which ran on NBC 1982-1989, and the critically acclaimed Brooklyn Bridge which aired on CBS 1991-1993. In association with DreamWorks, UBU produced Spin City which ran for six seasons on ABC. Just for the syndication of Family Ties, Mr. Goldberg walked away with over $200 million dollars.

In the book he acurately describes how a professional writer, Nate Monaster, had come down from Hollywood to San Diego State for one school year 1973-74, to find, and help, young writers. Mr Monaster had a long career in the business, having been nominated for an oscar for "That Touch of Mink" with Doris Day and Cary Grant. He had also served as president of the Writer's Guild of America. Monaster had recommended Goldberg to an agent and the rest was hollywood history.

What's amazing to me it that this is supposed to be an autobiography centered around his hollywood career yet no mention is made of his pivotal role in the most current ugliness in the history of the industry - Ageism. I'm referring to a class action lawsuit brought into the courts in 2000 and STILL winding it's way towards judgment day. The most quoted statement in this lawsuit comes out of the mouth of Gary David Goldberg. Below are some excerpts from an article in an AARP publication "Hollywood to Writer's - Your Fired!"

Once a successful television writer, Tracy Keenan Wynn now lives in a 400-square-foot efficiency apartment in Colorado, drives a battered Jeep with 225,000 miles on it and keeps his Emmy awards packed away in a box because "it hurts to look at them."
Not a day goes by that Wynn, the son of actor Keenan Wynn and grandson of comedian Ed Wynn, doesn’t jot down an idea for a TV series, work on a plot outline or tweak a script. But the man whose writing credits include The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and The Longest Yard says after he turned 45, Hollywood—in its relentless quest for young writers to attract young audiences—turned its back on him.
"I have energy, ability and experience—but no work," Wynn says ruefully.

Now, Wynn and more than 150 other television writers over age 40 are in court with AARP as their co-counsel in a far-reaching series of 23 class action lawsuits that charge Hollywood’s television industry—networks, studios, talent agencies and production companies—with age discrimination. The defendants are a Who’s Who of TV powerhouses, from the William Morris Agency, NBC and the Walt Disney Co. to Fox Entertainment, Universal and Paramount.

"Age discrimination is so established in this industry, everyone is offended we are questioning it," says Paul Sprenger, of the Washington office of law firm Sprenger & Lang, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
Sprenger, who has successfully tried several of the largest age discrimination cases in the country, says, "This is by far and away the best case on the merits that I’ve had.
"No one in Hollywood would say publicly, ‘I don’t hire women,’ or ‘I don’t hire blacks,’ " he adds, "but they will say, ‘I don’t hire older workers.’ "

And in fact, the court papers quote dozens of public statements on age from a number of high-profile TV executives, like Marta Kauffman, co-creator of the hit television series Friends, who told an interviewer: "Once you hit 40, you can’t do it anymore. Who’s got this energy to go on three hours of sleep? You just can’t do it. And also, I think the networks and studios, they want new, fresh ideas. They’re looking for young people coming in out of college."

********************

Gary David Goldberg, creator of the comedy series Spin City, told TV Guide his program had "no writers on the set over the age of 29—by design." The court papers say that Brandon Tartikoff, when he was president of NBC, declared a policy of not hiring older writers, while former Fox Broadcasting president Jamie Kellner said, "We don’t need anyone over 50 years of age to succeed with our business plan."

*********************

But younger writers aren’t necessarily the best writers, TV veterans say.
"I never watched Friends," says Larry Gelbart, 76, who created the wildly successful TV series M*A*S*H, "maybe because it was written by people straight out of college."
Gelbart is not part of the lawsuits, but the comedy writer, whose credits include Tootsie and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, says, "The only way to avoid age discrimination in Hollywood is to die young."

Goldberg's daughter was a writer/producer for the much beloved ??? "Friends".

By the way when my first screenplay was seriously considered at 20th Century Fox, the man in charge Alan Ladd, Jr. ( who bought "Star Wars" from George Lucas) couldn't understand how a 31 year old could have written the story of a man going through a midlife crisis. It is my belief that young can write for old, and visa versa. Now 30 years later I'm fiinishing a script about a ghost. If it gets to a young executive's desk I better certify that I'm dead so I have the right perspective.

Now Mr Goldberg, in this so called autobiography says he's retired in Vermont, spurns things of our "culture" i.e. he watches no series television "none" he proudly states and doesn't have a computer. This shows him to be the true boomer cliche', one of the earliest to have three names, the mandatory stint in Berkeley, no wedding ceremony for him, he was of a new generation to make the world better. They say if this law suit ever gets resolved it will show as many as 6000 writers who were adversely affected, down to dwindling or non existant careers.

Back to 1974 San Diego State. In the book Goldberg correctly points to Nate Monaster as the one person responsible for his career. Nate Monaster passed away in 1990 long before this controversy reared its head. I happened to be in Nate Monaster's class back in San Diego. Nate Monaster tried to help me too. My story is to be in another book which will carry the title of this blog. But to paraphrase Lloyd Bensten in that long ago debate against Dan Quayle. I knew Nate Monaster. I was quite friendly with Nate Monaster. In fact I discussed the Hollywood blacklist Communist witch hunts of the 1950's with Nate in his Los Angeles living room. He felt strongly about the damage done to many during that period. He said it went on for generations. He had people come up to him shamefully and apologize that their father had named names. Besides suicides and crushed careers like Larry Parks "The Jolson Story" people like Lee Grant and Zero Mostel couldn't work for over a decade. Anyway Mr. Goldberg you're no Nate Monaster. An honest autobiography would have at least had addressed the controversy.

So as you walk your 5 dogs and no doubt eat your politcally correct "Ben and Jerry's" Ice Cream in Vermont, Mr Goldberg , I'm sure you give no thought to your real Hollywood legacy. I would expect you to pull a Martha Stewart about any criticism "You are all jealous." I checked on the Wikipedia version of Gary David Goldberg. Since it looked like a press release I added a few lines of simple facts about his role in the lawsuit. Sure enough the next morning those lines had been removed. "Spin City" still spins.