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R.I.P. Charles Nelson Reilly

Charles Nelson Reilly (January 13, 1931 – May 25, 2007) was a Tony Award-winning American actor, director, and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game. Reilly made his first movie appearance in 1957, playing an uncredited role in the Elia Kazan film A Face in the Crowd. However, most of his work during this period was on the stage, as he appeared in many off-Broadway shows. His big Broadway break came in 1960 with a minor part in the hit Bye Bye Birdie. Reilly would go on to win a Tony Award for his performance in 1962's How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying[4] , and he was nominated for another Tony two years later, for his work as Cornelius Hackl in the Broadway production of Hello, Dolly!

While he kept active in Broadway shows, Reilly would soon become better known for his TV work. In 1965, he made regular appearances on The Steve Lawrence Show, which aired for a single season. From 1968 to 1970, he appeared as uptight "Claymore Gregg" on the television series The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which also starred Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare, in which he was reunited with Hello, Dolly! Broadway co-star, Eileen Brennan on one episode.

In 1971, he appeared as the evil magician "Hoodoo" in Lidsville, a psychedelically flavored live-action children's program produced by Sid and Marty Krofft that aired on Saturday mornings on ABC. The show was about a boy who falls into a magician's hat and enters a magical world of hat people. It is through these roles, as well as his playing the titular role in Uncle Croc's Block, that Reilly's voice and mannerisms were embedded in a generation of young fans.

During the 1970s Reilly also appeared as a regular on The Dean Martin Show, and had multiple guest appearances on television series including McMillan and Wife, Here's Lucy, Laugh In, The Love Boat and Love, American Style and was also a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. During this time Reilly was perhaps best known as a fixture of game shows, primarily due to his appearances as a regular panelist on the television game show Match Game. Reilly was the longest running guest, and often engaged in petty arguments with fellow regular Brett Somers. Reilly typically offered sardonic commentary and peppered his answers with gay-themed double entendres that pushed the boundaries of 1970s television standards. From 1975-1976 Reilly starred in another live-action children's program called "Uncle Croc's Block" with Jonathan Harris. Reilly was often a guest celebrity in the 1984 game show Body Language, including one week with Lucille Ball and another week with Audrey Landers.

From 1980, Reilly was primarily active teaching acting and directing for television and theater. He directed episodes of the Evening Shade television series in 1990 and earned a 1997 Tony Award nomination as Best Director of a Play for working with longtime pal Julie Harris, opposite whom he had acted in Skyscraper, and whom he had directed in The Belle of Amherst and a revival of The Gin Game.

Reilly was a longtime teacher of acting at HB Studio, the acting studio created by Herbert Berghof and his wife, Uta Hagen. His acting students included Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler.

In the 1990s Reilly made guest appearances on The Drew Carey Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and most notably, as eccentric writer Jose Chung in the television series The X-Files ("Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"") and Millennium ("Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"). Reilly was nominated for Emmy Awards in 1998 and 1999 for his performances in The Drew Carey Show and Millennium, respectively.

From the late 1990s, Reilly directed theater and opera, touring the country performing a critically acclaimed one man stage show chronicling his life called "Save It For the Stage: The Life of Reilly" and occasionally performing as the voice of "The Dirty Bubble" on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2006 his stage show was made into a feature film called The Life of Reilly.        (from CNR's Wikipedia page)

R.I.P. MIKE DOUGLAS

A few years ago, I pulled into a Bev Hills 76 station, and there was Mike, in another (longer) car, also getting gas. By coincidence, I happened to have a TV encyclopedia with me that I had just bought. I got out, met Mike, who was quite jovial, and he signed my book. Another coincidence: the place where he died, on 8-11-2006, was my teenage home, North Palm Beach Florida. I guess everything's connected. Give God a good guffaw, Mike.  -Don Rose

Doomsday clock reset for alarming world; global warming, nuclear perils shift symbolic hand

For the first time in five years, the elite board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the minute hand on their Doomsday Clock closer to the fatal hour of midnight. "The most immediate hazard we face is also the most easily addressed, namely the thousands of nuclear-armed weapons aimed at Russia and the United States, and left pointlessly in a state of high alert.  The fact that they are is an appalling failure to step back from the brink." [--John Polanyi, nobel laureate]..."The major new step reflects growing concerns about a 'Second Nuclear Age' marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing launch-ready status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks," said a statement released before a news conference today. Full report at the Toronto Star website: www.thestar.com/News/article/171913

JUST ANOTHER STEM CELL MIRACLE 

Digital Village (KPFK 90.7 fm, Saturdays 10-11am) discussed a Wired story about a woman who, set to lose a leg to diabetes, underwent a treatment that involved using her own stem cells to restore circulation to the leg. It worked. The area healed and she kept her leg. Moral of the story? Why, of course there's only one conclusion: them stem cells be evil, bad, against God's will, and federal stem cell funding should continue to be banned. Isn't it obvious? Me scared of stem cells, me no understand how they work. Me prefer guns and tanks. And tanktops! Me red-blooded American!

NEIL ARMSTRONG GETS AN "A"

It's official, says one researcher, who has analyzed the original NASA tapes from the Apollo 11 moon landing, using sound software -- and, yes, the first man to stand on another world did indeed say the following: "This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind ."  Science textbook editors have a lot of work now; first Pluto is demoted from full planet status, now a new "first footsteps line" from the Eagle has landed. Funny how no one ever quotes what second man on the moon Buzz Aldrin said when he descended the ladder, which to me was much more poetic: "This is one small step for a man, a man who is about to become the greatest second banana in history."

CELLING SAFETY

On Sept. 15, 2006, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) announced its enthusiastic support of State Senator Joe Simitian's (D-Palo Alto) SB-1613, which will require California drivers who choose to use a cellphone while driving to use a hands-free device. The bill is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2008. Palm, California's largest producer of cell phones, was the first cell manufacturer to publicly support the bill.  Ironic how, once this bill takes effect, one thing that can't touch your phone while driving is your palm. My advice to Palm: sell a device that holds a cellphone, with a built-in speaker, and call it the Palm-Free Palm Tree. Free advice, courtesy of The LA Report. (Hey, the advice was free. You get what you pay for.)