HAPPY 124TH BIRTHDAY FRED MERTZ

Unless you lived under a rock your whole life or lived on a desert island with no TV you surely know about "I LOVE LUCY" and William Frawley who played Fred Mertz.

Last night I was bored out of my skull and happened upon a site called Where the Stars are Buried: An introduction: Stars' Graves. That then lead me to Bill Frawley's WikiPedia page and subsequently his FIND A GRAVE memorial page.

I was surprised to see that today is his birthday- maybe Bill wanted me to look for his bio last night just because of that!

If Bill Frawley was still alive he would be 124-year-old today- he was born in 1887...the President of the United States at the time was Grover Cleveland!

(Grover Cleveland fact: when they were still in use his picture was on the $1000 bill..right click to see pic)

But sadly the world lost Bill on March 3, 1966 and in a few days it will be 45 years since he passed away.

Most all of the people you see on I Love Lucy reruns have passed on now. Vivian Vance, who played wife Ethel, died of cancer in 1979 and ten years later the world lost Lucille Ball. Desi Arnaz passed away from cancer as well in 1986.

But to watch these shows it is hard to think of these people as dead.

To give you a little background on the man that will be perpetually known as Fred Mertz long after I am dead and gone let's look at what Wikipedia says:

William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was a stage and screen actor, with well over a hundred films to his credit, but gained greater fame in television as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy and as "Uncle" Bub O'Casey on My Three Sons.

On I Love Lucy (1951) and on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957), Frawley played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo's friend and landlord Fred Mertz. He and Vivian Vance, who played his wife Ethel in the series, had great chemistry on screen, but in real life had a dislike for each other. This was attributed to her vocal resentment of having to play wife to a man 25 years her senior, which she took as an insult. When he got wind of it, it offended him so he never forgave her.

The two co-stars were given the opportunity to move into their own "Fred and Ethel" spin-off once Lucy had run its course in 1960. Despite his animosity towards her, Frawley saw a lucrative opportunity and was game, but Ms. Vance nixed the idea, having no interest in ever working with Frawley again. He never forgave her for this, since the series could have made him extremely wealthy.

William Frawley next hit it big on My Three Sons 1960 in his role as "Uncle Bub" O’Casey, a role he played from 1960 to 1965. The original premise for the series was for Frawley to be the show’s star, overseeing three nieces, but the network decided to switch the kids to boys, then snapped up Disney’s top movie star Fred MacMurray as the lead when he indicated interest after they offered him a preposterously shortened work schedule, relegating Frawley to another supporting role after all.

Frawley reportedly never felt comfortable with the out-of-sequence filming method used on My Three Sons after doing I Love Lucy in sequence for years.

Most television series are filmed out of sequence, but My Three Sons was unusually so, to an almost surreal degree: each season’s episodes were arranged so that series star MacMurray could shoot all of his scenes during a single intensive two-week period; Frawley and the other actors worked around the absent MacMurray the rest of the year. It was a very different experience from the sequential filming schedule of ‘ ‘I Love Lucy’ ‘.

By almost all accounts, Frawley’s off-screen personality was not that much different from his on-screen demeanor. A notorious misanthrope, with one brief failed marriage behind him and a fondness for the bottle, he lived in the same bachelor apartment most of his years in Hollywood.

According to Desi Arnaz’s memoir "A Book", Frawley eventually lost his driver’s license due to drunk driving, and befriended a cabbie who drove him around regularly.

When deciding whether to hire Frawley for the role of Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, Arnaz made it clear to him that, if he showed up drunk for work, he would "work around it" twice, but after that, Frawley would not only be fired from the program but blacklisted throughout the entertainment industry. Frawley, whom no one would hire at that point, readily agreed.

He never showed up drunk to work, and in fact, Arnaz became one of his few close friends.

Poor health forced Frawley’s retirement.

He was dropped from My Three Sons after the studio could no longer obtain insurance on him.

He was angry about being let go, and developed a dislike of actor William Demarest, who replaced him, accusing him of stealing his job.

(One of his final performances was an October 1965 guest appearance in Lucy’s subsequent series The Lucy Show (1962-1968). Right click to see pic.

He collapsed of a heart attack on March 3, 1966, and died, aged 79. He had been walking along Hollywood Boulevard after seeing a movie.

After he died, Arnaz took out a full-page ad in the trade papers, consisting of Frawley’s picture, framed in black, and three words: "Buenas noches, amigo!"

Vance’s reaction was the polar opposite. She and her second husband were dining out when they heard the news, and reportedly, Vance shamelessly shouted, "Champagne for everybody!"

Frawley is buried in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California.

One thing that I didn't know about Bill Frawley was that off screen he was a huge baseball nut like I am today!

I think he and I would have got along pretty well since we both love baseball and we are both cantankerous!

According to another site that I found, here with a great piece on Bill, he did a number of sports related movies...here is a partial list:

1. Hold ‘Em Yale (1935) Baseball
2. Alibi Ike (1935) Baseball
3. Rose Bowl (1936) Football
4. Touchdown, Army (1938) Football
5. Golden Gloves (1940) Boxing
6. It Happened in Flatbush (1942) Baseball
7. Moonlight in Havana (1942) Baseball
8. Gentleman Jim (1942) Boxing
9. The Babe Ruth Story (1948) Baseball
10. Joe Palooka in Winner Take All (1948) Boxing
11. Kill the Umpire (1950) Baseball
12. Rhubarb (1951) Baseball
13. Safe at Home (1962) Baseball

I do know that he was a big Yankee fan and in one I Love Lucy episode he shows just how much of a fan he is.

So even though you are long gone, Bill, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

You helped give millions of laughs to millions of people and helped with the rest of the cast and crew of I Love Lucy to change the face of television at the time and set the standard for what is used in tellevision sitcoms today so your birthday should be remembered!

At very least Fred Mertz is a national icon and probably more popular than Lincoln or Washington who had birthdays this month as well!

FINAL TELEVISON APPEARANCE- CAMEO ON THE LUCY SHOW

Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball) meets someone that looks JUST like someone she used to know -- I Love Lucy's William Frawley as a horse trainer!

FOR "I LOVE LUCY" FANS THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING CLIPS ON YOUTUBE. SOMEONE IN THE AUDIENCE IN 1951 FILMED, IN COLOR, THE SHOW AS IT WAS BEING PERFORMED LIVE!

This clip is originally on the Season 7-9 DVD as a bonus footage item :)

Cheers!

MAKE YOUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC

I got a couple of scathing e-mails from Justin Bieber fans after I did the last post here on the little git. To be fair I went to YouTube and listened to some of his music and...well he sings good but I am not into a little white kid acting like a little black kid and quite frankly his style of music is just not my cup of tea.

Yesterday on my Facebook I posted a few songs by "Mama" Cass Elliot.

My partner and i were playing a station on I-tunes and randomly heard a Mamas and Papas song and it got me thinking about Cass and how she defied what the music industry, especially today, will sign as an artist.

Cass always had a weight problem that was glandular and despite the rumors she never choked on a ham sandwich- she died of heart failure way too young and at the peak of her solo career. She was an incredible singer and quite the entertainer.

It got me thinking about pop music today and what sells...or better yet what is sold to us and especially youth. Lady Gaga and acts like Justin Bieber sell. Gaga is a manufactured star now that is like a present day Madonna and Bieber...well let's get real here.

If he was an obese 17-year-old he probably would have never been signed to a record deal. The reason people like that boy so much is because of the cuteness factor (something I really don't see at all btw).

Whether it is a teenage girl or boy or an oldie that lusts after teen pop stars it seems that there was more of a buzz about this kid when the paparazzi caught him shirtless on a beach rather than the quality of his music.

Not to rag on what singing talent Bieber has but seriously if he looked like he does in this photoshop picture and had man boobs in those beach shirtless pics do you think half of more of his avid fan base would still be there?

I don't think so becaiuse today with all the media outlets online, on the TV and even on our phones, with the popularity of music videos they have to have singers that are visually appealing.

Look at the group from the 80's and 90's Wilson Phillips and member Carnie Wilson...partly for health reason but mostly to make sure she was able to advance the career especially on TV she had gastric bypass surgery and just last year was struggling with her weight again in this People magazine piece.

This woman too has an amazingly beautiful voice yet sadly when you put her name into YouTube or Google you find more articles and videos that have to do with her weight loss or gain then the music she made and her singing talent.

Lucky for the people in the 60's and early 70's that they didn't have MTV and that female musicians didn't have to dress up like ten dollar whores on a street corner to sell their music...the world embraced Cass Elliot because not only was she a great entertainer she also was one hell of a great vocalist.

So go ahead and love homophobic Justin Bieber just because you fantasize having tjis twink naked in bed with you. If that is your scene that is on you. I prefer to judge talent based on vocal ability not a cuteness factor.

It just makes me wonder how many chubby boys and girls have tried to get a record deal with an amzing singing voice but was turned down by record company executives because they were too fat or not pretty enough to sell their CD's.

Sad really that there is probably hundreds of talented singers that will never get a break in the United States just because of that while this little wiggery twit makes bank because people think he is a hotty.

To read more about the life and career of Cass Elliot right click here to check out the biography seen in the first pic in this post today!

Here is a song with Carnie Wilson singing lead vocals:



And this is a great song by Cass Elliot when she was shedding the "Mama" part of the name so she would be respected as solo act Cass Elliot.

GO AHEAD CHUBBY SINGERS...LIKE CASS SAID- "MAKE YOUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC!"

FUCK YOU JUSTIN BIEBER

Sorry I haven't posted here in forever but I really didn't have too much to write about...well actually I do but the time isn't right yet.

Today however this trailer park looking singer- Justin Bieber pissed me off in his Rolling Stone interview.

Pink News reported the story like this:

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he appeared to label homosexuality as a choice rather than something that is uncontrollable.

He also spoke out against abortion even when pregnancy is caused by rape, saying “everything happens for a reason.”
The interview for next month’s Rolling Stone magazine has been distributed via blogs.

When asked what his views on homosexuality are, Bieber responded: “It’s everyone’s own decision to do that. It doesn’t affect me and shouldn’t affect anyone else.”

It is not clear whether he intended to label homosexuality as a lifestyle choice.

NOT CLEAR PINK NEWS?

So the same gay boys that buy your shitty music decide one day to "do that" and subject themselves to bullying, ridicule, beatings and other traumas that many gay teens and adults go through, Justin?

Come on his statement was crystal clear- maybe that is because he choses not to do that or the record company told him he must be straight or his music will not sell.

Bieber’s position stands in contrast with that of Lady Gaga who last year said: “there are some people in this world that believe being gay is a choice. It’s not a choice, we’re born this way.” Her single ‘Born This Way’ has been described as the new gay anthem by Sir Elton John.

In his interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bieber went on to say “I think you should just wait for the person you’re … in love with,” when asked about abstinence.

Despite his strong Christian background he did not argue against pre-martial sex.

“I really don’t believe in abortion,” he told the magazine “I think [an embryo] is a human. It’s like killing a baby.”

He added that while it is “really sad” for a woman to become pregnant after being raped, he claimed that “everything happens for a reason.”

“I don’t know how that would be a reason,” he added. “I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

Ok this kid is an idiot- bright as a small appliance bulb.

But what really infuriates me is Rolling Stone magazine...why the fuck did they ask him questions about ADULT issues when he clearly isn't mature enough to give an informed opinion and is just parroting what he has been fed by parents and preachers?

Isn't Rolling Stone a music magazine and with teen singers shouldn't the interview and conversation be about his music...not whether or not he approves of the millions of fags that buys his music or whether or not a female that was brutally raped should keep the baby conceived by her rapist?

The man in the pic is probably one of those oldies that like this boy because he thinks he is cute not because of any talent...that is just an assumption but probably not too far off the mark.

Shame on Rolling Stone and shame on this ignorant little fuck who, more than likely (just look at Ricky Martin) is deep in the corporate music business closet because gay teens will not sell CD's!

So piss off Justin Bieber...no one chooses to be gay...science already has proved that...but people can choose to stay in the closet for the sake of a lucrative movie or music career...aint that so Justin Booby?

Here's a real good and really straight canadian- and a "Justin" who isn't an idiot like you...Justin LeBeau from Squirtz!