Silver Spoons: A Sitcom Lover

Silver Spoons was a family sitcom based on the expression that rich children are born with a "silver spoon” in their mouth, implying that they are given only the very best and want for nothing. This book was published in 2003 and was perhaps the worst book to come out through the JM Media Group. Which is a shame because this series was a notch above most situation comedies.

The series centers on Ricky Stratton and his single father Edward. As an overgrown kid who owns a multinational toy company empire, Edward lives in a mansion that is stocked with arcade games and has a scale model freight train that runs throughout the house. Edward exhibits his childishness and playfulness in many behaviors; for example, he performs a little dance before playing Pac-Man when the video game plays its theme song. Stratton's personal assistant, Kate Summers (played by the beautiful Erin Gray), was often the voice of reason. Kate's role added tension to the show and provided incentive for Edward to act more mature (at least sometimes). Edward and Kate had a will-they-or-won't-they relationship which led to the two dating and later becoming married in the third season.

The television series gave us a number of “social commentaries” such as the first season episode “Mr. T and Me,” concerning school bullies. For the holiday offering, “The Best Christmas Ever,” Ricky discovers a family living in a cave on his father’s estate, and addresses the issue of homeless families during a season of caring. In Season Two and Three, the subject of child abuse and dyslexia are exemplified in “Spare the Rod” and “Trouble with Words,” respectfully. Season Four was perhaps the most impressive. “One for the Road” concerned alcohol abuse and “Daddy Rick” centered on the subject of teen pregnancy.

This book was obviously written from a fan perspective, with no knowledge of how to construct a book. A chapter about bloopers, reprints of scripts and theme song music sheets, TV Guide advertisements, biographies of the actors and an episode guide is included. The episode guide, it should be noted, contains nothing but the episode title and a lengthy plot description. No cast list, no episode number, no broadcast date. This is the first time I’ve seen an episode guide in a book, without this kind of information. Worse, if the purpose of buying this book is the episode guide, you’ll find more on tv.com (and that’s a shocker)!

Judith A. Moose has a superb list of credits including degrees in Broadcast Communications, Advertising and Marketing. Her book is great if you are looking for a publication put together from a fan perspective. From the scholarly approach, it’s not worth buying. I’ve seen books like these, with poor photo resolution. But many of them have hidden treasures and usually more information than the kind of books published through a University Press, so books like these are hit and miss. But since there is no other book about the television series, it’s a must-have for fans of the television series.

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Lloyd Nolan: An Actor's Life With Meaning

Lloyd Nolan could play any character in any genre and was believable to every role. He was not acting; he was just real. He was Inspector Briggs in The House on 92nd Street and The Street With No Name. He was Dr. Swain in Peyton Place and, even as a bad guy, he was Lt. De Garmot in Lady in the Lake. Nolan's off-screen life was just as remarkable. He was devoted to his autistic son Jay and, when young Jay died in an accident 2500 miles away, Lloyd channeled his grief into action. For the rest of his life, he did everything he could to better the lives of disabled people and their families, and such people are still benefitting from the resulting legislation today. This is the story of the two lives of Lloyd Nolan--his prolific on-screen life that is so familiar to moviegoers and television fans alike, and his off-screen life that has positively affected many throughout the country. His was a true Hollywood success story of a role model extraordinaire!

This very familiar face played in 156 roles in all types of media. A cop, doctor, soldier and as detective Michael Shayne. He usually stole the scenes he was in. After all, those B-mysteries usually have one thing going for them: the lead actor is usually the only known name and the only person who can act.

The son of a San Francisco shoe factory owner, American actor Lloyd Nolan made it clear early on that he had no intention of entering the family business. Nolan developed an interest in acting while in college. He flunked out of Stanford because he spent most of his time in amateur theatricals. He then entered Santa Clara College. He then landed a job on a freighter. When the ship sank due to a fire, he headed for Hollywood.

In 1927, he began studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, living on the inheritance left him by his father. Stock company work followed, and in 1933, Nolan scored a Broadway hit as vengeful small-town dentist Biff Grimes in One Sunday Afternoon (a role played in three film versions by Gary Cooper, James Cagney, and Dennis Morgan, respectively -- but never by Nolan). Nolan's first film was Stolen Harmony (1935); his breezy urban manner and Gaelic charm saved the actor from being confined to the bad guy parts he played so well, and by 1940 Nolan was, if not a star, certainly one of Hollywood's most versatile second-echelon leading men.

Film historian William K. Everson pointed out once that the secret to Nolan's success was his integrity -- the audience respected his characters, even when he was the most cold-blooded of villains. The closest Nolan got to film stardom was a series of B detective films made at 20th Century-Fox from 1940 to 1942, in which he played private eye Michael Shayne -- a "hard-boiled dick" character. He acted on radio, appeared on television, where he starred as detective Martin Kane in 1951; and later appeared in the Hugo Award-winning teleplay, “Soldier,” on The Outer Limits. Lloyd Nolan's last performance was as an aging soap opera star on an episode of the TV series, Murder She Wrote. He died  soon after filming completed.

Joel Blumberg

Lloyd Nolan: An Actor’s Life with Meaning was co-written by Joel Blumberg and Sandra Grabman. I read some of Grabman’s books and they are great. I know of Joel Blumberg only as the author of the liner notes for VCI’s Zane Grey Theater (Season One DVD set) and as the host of Silver Screen Audio. In recent years, Joel interviewed the Hollywood celebrities at the annual Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. Sadly, Joel passed away from a heart attack about the time this book got published, and having read this biography and loved it, I can only hope that his unfinished bio on actor Dennis O’Keefe will get published.

I know this book review is more about the actor and not about the book, but to be honest, it’s the only book about Lloyd Nolan that I know of. More importantly, it’s flawless and well-written. The photos are not all gorgeous, but they are as good as they can be under the standard printer conditions and should not be taken against the publisher or the authors. And Joel was such a nice person that the subtitle speaks more of Joel than it does for Lloyd. My closing comment in the last paragraph should speak volumes about this book. 

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Well! Jack Benny's Life and Career

As the back of the book indicates, this is a collection of rare and delightful essays and personal reminiscences on perhaps the greatest comedian who has ever lived. A total number of 21, to be exact. And there are some gems in this book.

Actor Frank Bresee reminisces about his association and professional career with Jack Benny. Not very lengthy, but a great start. Actress Kay Linaker was interviewed in 2004, and thanks to the kindness of Janine Marr, the interview has been transcribed and now reveals a great side of Jack Benny the world was never aware of.

Mark Higgins writes an amusing essay about the female sex and Jack's Luck with women. Marc Reed contributed an article about Mel Blanc and manages to keep his write-up from venturing away from Jack Benny (since that's the subtitle of the book). Of the greatest amusement, and best prose, is "Jack Benny: Cartoon Star," by Derek Tague and Michael J. Hayde.

The best part of the book are essays written by Jack Benny himself. One of them, reprinted from the March 30, 1935, issue of Radio Guide, talks about Don Bestor, an orchestra leader on Benny's radio show from 1934 to 1935. Another essay by Benny himself, "My Adventures in Hollywood," was reprinted from the November 1935 issue of Radio Stars.

A number of other magazine and newspaper columns are reprinted for this book. Jack Benny's obituary from the New York Times, vintage Jell-O Adventisements and cast autographs from the original radio scripts are reprinted. A Jack Benny comic book spoof is also reprinted.

The book keeps me longing for more photos, because all of the pictures in this book are wonderful. They were obviously donated by many fans of Jack Benny, since photo credit varies from one page to another. It is difficult for me to say that there isn't enough photos, but also difficult to say there are too many. If the editor chose the photos from a larger inventory, then I would love to see the photos that never made it in the book.

From his vaudeville days to the Fred Allen feud, every aspect of Jack Benny's career is discussed. It's a thin book, spanning 157 pages. I wish the book was larger because at times it was cheezy, funny, touching and (if I can express from the heart) inspirational. If the editor, Michael Leannah, intends to author another book, perhaps he can consider the same for Fred Allen? I don't believe Allen has received his due as a comedian. Is Bear Manor Media Publishing listening?

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