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BOY CULTURE REVIEW: ***1/2 out of **** stars

My friend Michael invited me to An Evening with Lucie Arnaz at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn last night. My first thought had been, "I wonder how expensive flights are to Brooklyn?" But I went anyway, joining him, Greg and Tom for a long ride on the 2 and a trip down memory carril.

The court in front of the theater looked a little bit like Night of the Living Dead, which I say affectionately; some of Ms. Arnaz's (Mrs. Luckinbill's—she's been married to Boys in the Band actor Laurence Luckinbill for 33 years) fans were inherited from her late parents, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, so are not as mobile in their seventies and beyond as Arnaz is at 61.

Above, see all the stars as they appeared then...and as they appear now!

At the most recent Hollywood Show, held at the Westin Los Angeles Airport, I was discussing with one of my A-hound (that's "autograph") buddies just how long we could continue coming to these shows, considering so many of the attendees are people we've already met, and other potential guests are dropping like flies.

Not even kidding—this hearse was in front of the hotel as I first drove up!

Don told me, "Oh, I'll be here in 20 years in my Rascal, scooting around for Lindsay Lohan's autograph." He was joking, though. He couldn't care less about LiLo or most modern stars. For him it's Jane Withers through about Dallas, Don and most of the others who attend these shows can't be bothered. When does it end? I guess, as with life, it ends when it ends, so have fun while it lasts.

This was my shortest show. I only spent part of the first day and a few minutes on the second, since I had the GLAAD event and other stuff to do. But I couldn't not come, not with Angie Dickinson, Earl Holliman and Mamie Van Doren in the mix.

Here are my interactions, in order as they occurred:

Jonathan Winters, a truly unique performer and comedy legend, has died at 87. I met him less than six months ago at The Hollywood Show (to which I'm returning next week). Oddly, I'd met his one-time co-star Phyllis Diller only months before her own death (at 95), so I wound up getting both of them to sign a still of them from their 1960s movie Eight on the Lam.

As evidenced by the above video about his character "Maude Frickert," he was just a truly original funnyman.

Mamie Van Doren, 82 and eerily flawless, is showing up in person at a screening of her films Untamed Youth (1957) and High School Confidential! (1958) in Santa Monica in early April. I am scheduled to meet her later that same month, along with Angie Dickinson.

Lori Nelson (79) and Don Burnett (84 are also still alive from this one)

It promises to be a day filled with emotional...peaks.

Continuing on my kick of reaching out to living performers who ever appeared in a silent movie (in recent times, I've "gotten" Carla Laemmle, Lupita Tovar, Michael D. Moore, Diana Serra Cary aka "Baby Peggy," Mickey Rooney and Dickie Moore), I asked my good buddy Bryan to see if he could get me a signature from Mary Carlisle. Carlisle, the third oldest living person to have appeared in a silent-era silent film, is 101 as of less than two weeks ago. Carlisle started acting as a child, so her first screen appearance was 90 (!) years ago, opposite Jackie Coogan in the silent Long Live the King. She is the last surviving WAMPAS Baby Star; her 1932 class included Gloria Stuart and Ginger Rogers.

Retired from film, where she had a solid career as a B-movie bombshell,  for over 70 years, this one-time glamourpuss is also retired from a high-profile job as the manager of the Elizabeth Arden Salon in Beverly Hills. She was married to Jim Blakely, an actor who wound up as an executive producer at 20th Century-Fox. Blakely lived into his nineties, so I'm thinking this couple, married for 65 years, might have been either doing some seriously healthy living or were freaks of nature who happened to find each other.

 

Above, the then-and-now gallery

I've let almost two months (!) go by since the most recent Hollywood Show, which actually moved spaces to the L.A. Westin. Regulars were wondering if the site change would gut attendance, but people definitely showed up. To make sure I get this out there, I'm going to do a somewhat shortened (but still ridiculously expansive) review.

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Be sure to check out the gallery above for then-and-now pix of (in order): Robert Conrad, Tony Dow, Adrian Zmed, Debbie Gibson, Greg Evigan, Donna Douglas, Max Baer Jr., David Mandel, Erin Murphy, Ann Robinson, Christopher McDonald, Coleen Gray, Francine York, Jimmy McNichol, Kay Lenz, Lori Petty, Lynn Holly Johnson, Parker Stevenson, Paul LeMat, Renee Taylor, Richard Kiel, Ron Masak, Ryan Guzman (then = now) and Sam Harris.

Keep reading for notes and photos on the show...

My autograph-hound pal Rich invited me to see My Name is Asher Lev at the Westside Theatre, based on the beloved Chaim Potok novel about an Orthodox Jewish boy born with artistic talent who must convince his strict parents to allow him to fulfill his potential in spite of his religion. I'd heard it was good so it wasn't hard to convince me to go (for free...thanks, Rich!), but Rich's motives were not the art but his religious pursuit of autographs; in this case, he was looking to snag Mark Nelson from Asher Lev and also Marilyn Sokol, who was appearing in Old Jews Telling Jokes in the same space.

Nelson as adorkable "Ned" in Friday the 13th

Nelson, now in his fifties,  appealed to Rich's horror appreciation, having appeared in Friday the 13th (1980), while Sokol, 75, was a draw for having had the misfortune of appearing in Can't Stop the Music that same year. I think Rich was worried they'd rebuff him at the stage door (some actors resent being remembered for their least accomplished but sometimes most loveable performances), so having me along as a buffer and also having tickets to one of the shows was a way to ensure we wouldn't be seen as those autograph hawkers who hop from event to event stalking stars and expecting them to participate in a cottage industry the profits from which they're not allowed to share.

Above, Andrew Lincoln graces the cover and inside of TV Guide (February 11—24, 2013). Below, the mag also offers this plaintive shot of Adam Levine from his SNL gig:

More after the jump...

Here's a tip—"George Jefferson" is cheap

Ned Wertimer, one of TV's most famous doormen (he was "Ralph" on The Jeffersons), has passed away at 89. I'd just met him a couple of years ago at a Hollywood Show. He and Marla Gibbs are tied with Carla Laemmle for the most inexpensive stars I've ever met—$5 apiece. I almost forgot to pay their measly fee and Wertimer turned to me and asked, in a way that tip-grubbing "Ralph" would've loved, "Are you gonna pay us?"

Rouverol as she appears today, along with her autograph

My bestie Gordon was aghast when I recently confessed I had never seen Stage Door (1937), so muh so that he purchased a copy on Amazon for himself and had it shipped to me so I could indulge before handing it over. This story of a boarding house for ambitious actresses and dancers was worth his effort—a hilarious comedy, an affecting melodrama and more stars/familiar names than you know what to do with, including Katharine Hepburn (1907—2003), Ginger Rogers (1911—1995), Adolphe Menjou (1890—1963), Lucille Ball (1911—1989), Franklin Pangborn (1889—1958), Eve Arden (1908—1990) and Ann Miller (1923—2004).

Ann Miller and Ginger Rogers cut a rug (or two)

Gordon was fascinated by the story of Andrea Leeds (1914—1984), who received much acclaim as terminally dejected "Kay Hamilton," an actress beginning to realize that her greatest glory on stage had already happened. Leeds left Hollywood after marrying rich and died relatively young (69) of cancer. Just as fascinating to me was realizing another of the film's actresses, Gail Patrick (1911—1980) also married rich (third time was a charm) and gave up her career, also dying of cancer at the same age.

But as I always do with old movies, I immediately searched to see if anyone could possibly still be alive from a production that would have been filmed 76 years ago...and I found one. Jean Rouverol (1916—), who played "Dizzy," is still alive and after being blacklisted in the '50s as a Communist (and fleeing with her family to Mexico to avoid being subpoenaed) enjoyed a writing career and several stints on the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America.

Along with Stage Door, she appeared as W.C. Fields's daughter in It's a Gift (1934), which featured this famous scene:

Ms. Rouverol was easy to find, so I sent a vintage Stage Door ad from a magazine, which was promptly returned signed "Jean Rouverol Butler" (her married name). Her assistant sent an article about Rouverol and her live-in companion, 97-year-old voice actor Cliff Carpenter (1915—) along with the signed ad.

Amazing interaction. They sound tough as nails.