The Gripes of Rapp

Philip Rapp, creator of The Bickersons, was radio's greatest comedy writer. Until I read this book, I was not aware that Larry King once hailed The Bickersons as "the best radio comedy ever." Rapp did not just write for radio. He also wrote for Hollywood. he was one of Hollywood's highest paid script writers, using his gift of the gag to write films for Danny Kaye, best-selling albums for Don Ameche and Frances Langford, and classic television series like Topper and I Married Joan. He wrote the final Tv series for Joan Davis, and for the Marx Brothers, and influenced everything from The Honeymooners, The Flintstones and Married With Children.

Culled directly from the Philip Rapp files, this biography showcases the best of Philip Rapp, including a large chunk of Rapp's scripts, jokes and writings. Teaming with rare photos and interviews with family and friends, author Ben Ohmart has written a detailed book that is a must for any comedian.

If you ever wanted to know what Philip Rapp thought about The Honeymooners being a direct rip-off of The Bickersons, chapter eight offers a lot of material for thought, including direct comments from Rapp himself.

Roger Corman, the famed director, once remarked that this book offers "anything you want to know about comedy writing and much more." Talk about praise! This book is available in hardcover and paperback. I bought the paperback and wish I bought the hardcover instead. I wore the cover out a bit and now it looks dog-eared.

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Life and Career of Paul Reed

This thoroughly engaging and often hilarious story of the son of Russian immigrants and his journey from an austere childhood of truancy and survival on the streets of Manhattan's lower east side to ubiquitous recognition as a regular fixture in the world of Broadway musicals and TV sitcoms imparts an intimate look at the man behind the characters he portrayed. Written by his son, Paul Jr., this loving tribute brings the author's father back to life with all his talent, idiosyncrasies and humanity.

Paul Reed was familiar to baby boomers for his role as Captain Block of the fictional 53rd Precinct in the Bronx, on the television series, Car 54, Where Are You? This book proves there is more to the actor beyond the situation comedy that he is best known for. Written by his son, Paul Reed Jr., we get a glimpse of his personal life as a family man, star of Broadway stage plays, and tons of great never-before-published photos. And boy, what photos!

Martin Grams wrote a book about Car 54, Where Are You? and his brief biography of Paul Reed is not extensive. Reed's involvement with the television program, is extensive. This book, however, doesn't cover Car 54 much at all, so both books compliment each other. The chapter about Reed's television career working with Sid Caesar is hilarious and worth the cost of the book. And the price is not expensive, either.

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The Outer Limits Companion

David J. Schow wrote The Outer Limits: The Official Companion in 1986, an offspring to a series of articles and broadcast log that appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine during the 1980s. In 1998, Schow expanded his initial publication and re-titled it, The Outer Limits Companion. It is the 1998 edition that I am doing my book review, and the revised version is the one I recommend. It is out of print and goes for as much as $180 a pop, but shop around and you can get it for $40 like I did. And when spending that kind of money, make sure it is the 1998 version pictured here, to get your money's worth.

I won't make any comparison with the two versions, and base my review only on the 1998 edition.

"There is nothing wrong with your television set..."

With these words, each week, the mysterious Control Voice would usher us to the furthest reaches of the human imagination -- The Outer Limits. Some people don't like the series, but I suspect they saw a few of the stinkers from the second season and thus never saw the series at its prime. The producer, Joseph Stefano, fought the networks during the first season and the best human morality plays using space aliens left an impression on the viewers, including Rod Serling. According to author Martin Grams, had The Twilight Zone been renewed for a sixth season, Serling had intentions of doing more outer space stuff and the kind of stories seen on The Outer Limits. The first season has the majority of the best episodes and deserves multiple viewings.

This book takes apart the series in every aspect from viewers' faulty memories and fan letters reprinted in magazines of the mid-sixties, a history of Daystar Productions, how Project Unlimited created the creatures (known as the Monster of the Week), and everyone who was ever on the series was obviously interviewed as there are tons of quotes from actors, writers, directors, producers and even the folks who voiced the creatures. There are tons of trivia. The episode "ZZZZZ," for example, contains five letters but it was pointed out that the commercial VHS release had it listed on the package with six letters, and cast members, not wanting to go insane, referred to the episode as "The Bees." The actress who played the lead in that episode recalled padding her bra because the director wanted her larger than life.

Robert Culp recalled how Harlan Ellison wrote "Demon With a Glass Hand" with Culp in mind for the lead role. Inside jokes such as "The Chamelion" has a character named Colonel Stevens, named after producer Leslie Stevens. The stunt men were interviewed. Behind-the-scenes photos reveal how some of the camera tricks were accomplished. 

This is a very thick 400 page coffee table book with glossy pages. The only way it could have been more expensive to produce was if the publishers wanted to have the entire inside in color. But since the series was shot in black and white, it seems logical to retain the interior in black and white. It's also 9 by 12 and that's larger than most books.

My review can be summed up in one sentence and I'll put it in quotes. "This is the kind of book I wish all television series received the same treatment." There isn't anything in here that isn't covered (except maybe dates of production and music cues but that was done for The Twilight Zone book Martin Grams wrote and proves that sometimes we don't need everything about a series, but it sure is nice to have).

"We now return control of your television set to you until next time..."

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The Shadow Radio Program

As a fan of The Shadow character, Martin Grams wrote what has been the most anticipated book of the year. After consulting authorities on the subject, I have heard nothing but high praise. Could The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program be worth the hype?

Early this morning I received a package from the post office. A complete surprise! The book arrived! Having paid for a copy back in October at the Friends of Old Time Radio Convention, I was eager to tear into it. And today was my day off work. Lucky me! Well.... here's my review.

After spending two hours reading various passages and chapters, it has occurred to me that it's going to take at least a week to digest everything in this book. There's a chapter about the Blue Coal Mystery Revue (1932 to 1933, NBC) and an episode guide documenting every episode from that season including The Shadow's narration and plot summaries. A chapter documenting the Australian series (both of them) from the forties with complete cast credits. Charles Michelson and his syndication business is explained in detail, a void now filled for the old time radio fans who have been crying for someone to document how Michelson syndicated the radio programs. Juvenile impact and World War II is the focus of chapter four. My favorite is chapter seven which describes all of the observations and details about Lamont Cranston and Margot Lane, from the extant scripts and recordings. They both smoked cigarettes on the program! (Can you say "role models" boys and girls?)

The history of the radio program is slickly divided into various subjects. A chapter about the Orson Welles broadcasts, a chapter about Bret Morrison's triumphant return and stay, and a chapter about Bill Johnstone.

I honestly don't know who on God's Green Earth will want to know all the radio stations in Los Angeles that chose to broadcast The Shadow radio program from the 1930s to the 1950s, but whatever you are looking for, you can find it in this 830 page book with a comprehensive index.

My gripes? (Always gripes no matter what the book.) The graphic designer or the printers goofed and all of the pages and text are centered. That is, the very few pages at the end of each chapter doesn't start at the top of the page and scroll down. They are perfectly centered. But this is no fault to the author or the publisher. It's obviously a printing error and perhaps my copy is the only one that fell through the cracks. And it is a minor gripe.

One observation I would like to make. The author has class. As pointed out in the introduction of the book, his research was extensive and exclusive. He did not consult previously published reference guides to avoid reprinting the same errors that continue to appear in other books. Good for him. As I flipped through the pages, I discovered numerous footnotes clarifying his information and why it conflicts with that found in other books. He clarifies and cites all of his sources, and the sources for the mistakes that have been printed in the past. Rather than call out the books by name, he merely refers to them as "prior published reference guides." This saves face for the so-called "authorities" who were responsible for generating the errors in the first place. Kudos to Mr. Grams for doing this. (Course, everyone in the hobby probably knows who the screwball is that made the errors and would not take the time to make the corrections.)

At first I thought the $29.95 price was a bit steep for a book about a radio program but when it arrived and I saw it was 800 pages, it only took 60 seconds of flipping through the pages to discover it was worth every penny. (Especially since I just bought a 202 page book for $95 from McFarland.)

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Lee Van Cleef: Best of the Bad

He had the face of a true villain, chiseled to perfection. Director Sergio Leone, best-known for "The Man With No Name" spaghetti western trilogy, once described Van Cleef as having the face of a hawk; actor Eli Wallach called it "wonderfully alive" and full of wickedness. As an actor, Van Cleef portrayed some of the best movie villains of all time-Angel Eyes in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and Frank Talby in Day of Anger. Although more than twenty years have passed since his premature death in 1989, Lee Van Cleef remains a cinematic icon for millions of film fans worldwide, and his legacy as the "Best of the Bad" is set in granite. Lee Van Cleef: Best of the Bad explores the life and career of this great actor, a man with unbounded talent and a heart of finely-polished gold. Through interviews and numerous sources, Best of the Bad reveals the real Lee Van Cleef and discusses his roles in For A Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and Day of Anger, along with chapters on mythic archetypes and historical gunfighters and bounty hunters. Also included is a foreword by Mike Malloy, author of Lee Van Cleef: A Biographical, Film, and Television Reference.

The book is only 81 pages so thankfully the price was not expensive. Regrettably, it's nothing more than a collection of essays, many of them critical. The only saving piece about this book is the fact that is explores the actor's personal life, which few people have done. Most of the time people write about his movies, not about his career as a father, an interview with Luciano Vencenzon, and a section about the guns Cleef wore in the movies (with little illustrations). Critical essays about Westerns is welcome but only when books are thick and ripe. This one gives you the impression it's a collection of magazine articles and essays slapped together into a book.