Monday, July 16, 2007

ANOTHER "DINNER WITH ANDRE" (ACTUALLY JOHN K.)

Let's see...I arrived late and caught John doodling on the paper place mat. We said hello, briefly talked about John's latest blog, and agreed that we were both fine people who the rest of the world would do well to emulate. We placed our orders and John asked for his usual side order of onion which, remarkably, arrived at the table freshly sliced, Just the way he likes it.


John opened up the serious talk of the evening with a with a flat statement that Larry Fine was an unjustly neglected Stooge. He said that Moe was responsible for Larry getting less screen time than Curly. I was amazed. I never heard John say anything bad about Moe before. We agreed that Larry was necessary to the word music of the trio and the pizza came.


Fred Krippin's name came up -- Fred was the genius behind "Roger Ramjet" and the National Lumber commercials-- and I said Fred was a terrific sound editor as well as a terrific director. John talked about how important a good sound track is and how the great sound people don't get the credit they deserve. Fortunately we know about Treg Brown, the great Warners' sfx man, but we don't know much about how he and Stalling collaborated.

Neither of us knew who did the Stooges sfx. It's amazing that someone could do such good work and remain anonymous. John said the Stooge sfx were used in other Columbia shorts but not effectively.











We talked about baggy shorts and maxi-skirts heralding the decline of Western civilization and marveled that that Jenny Lerew could like the early 1920s clothes that I blogged about. Seeking a more manly subject than women's clothes, we speculated about two art slumps that may have occurred between 1890 and 1923. John said something similar might have occurred in the early 50s. He cited the close, curly, George Washington women's hair styles that spinsters and old ladies wore in the 50s.


There we were talking about women's things again and, seeking balance, we decided to talk about...nazis. We agreed that what art schools need to clean up their act is a few nazi art teachers who would force students to learn how to draw whether they like it or not.
Well, all good things come to an end. John generously handed me the box containing the uneaten pizza and I put it in the car. I was sorely tempted to eat it while driving but I remembered my poor, ragged family who were probably shivering by the dying embers in the fireplace, waiting for me to come home with a few crumbs to sustain life through the night. I would save the pizza for them.
For most of the trip I stalwartly avoided looking at the pizza box then I thought, "Well, what the heck? A look won't hurt." Then I figured one bite won't hurt, and then I thought no one would want the slice with a bite out of it so I had to eat the whole piece. Then...then only the box remained by the time I got home.



32 comments:

Brilliantpants said...

Can I come next time?

Lester Hunt said...

"Can I come next time?" Me too! Me too! Actually, that would be hard to manage, from Oregon WI. *Sigh*

Anyway, thanks Eddie! I've never heard the phrase "word music" applied to the Stooges before.

Jenny Lerew said...

Bwahahaah--I love the thought of you two "marveling" at anything I'd write! More like "sputtering disdain", I'll bet. My ears were burning!

Lissen, you--I happen to also really love the 1940s silhouette--and that of the 1930s(bias-cut clothes); the 50s New Look as seen on Audrey Hepburn, etc.; and f course the 1880s and he 1900s(edwardian, hourglass shape). I have all those clothes as well. Do you remember that dress I wore to work on Halloween a-way back when? That was from 1907 or so.
So anyway, what exactly IS it that you so hate about 1910s/WW1-era clothes? Hmmm.
For the record, I don't particularly like pegged skirts either(the kind that taper to the ankle). The by-far ugliest "fashion" for women has to be the 1970s-90s, topping the ugly scale around 1982 or so. Surely you and Johnnie can agree with me on that?!
; )

Max Ward said...

On Nazi art teachers: I started art school last week at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I was afraid it was going to be an undisiciplined hippy mess of a school. Boy, was I wrong! First day of school the teacher says fiercely "When you are here, you leave your style at home. You can't convince me that your sailor moon drawing is your style, I've seen 50 others like it this week. If you are sick of copying other artists, you are in the right place. If you don't want to work, go home, you are paying too much money to continue a hobby." And my other art teacher studied fine arts in Italy and made us draw 100 rough sketches and 100 fully rendered sketches of a still life, all due at the end of class! Yikes! I've got a good feeling like I will learn to draw well, but I can see tons of kids dropping out.

The Jerk said...

Larry is definitely underrated. without him, they wouldn't be the 3 stooges, they'd be the Howard Brothers, and the comedy would come off like an Abbott and Costello routine in which Costello thought he was a dog and Abbott had hair.

Jennifer said...

Uncle Eddie, the ending of that story was funny! Did Auntie Mrs. F and the Cousins give you what-for about eating their pizza? :D

Max: your story about the AIP instructors doesn't surprise me. Way back when (like 15 years ago), the AIP did not have a very good reputation. The quality of education wasn't that great, they accepted anyone as long as the student could breathe, and they were notorious for padding their job placement numbers. Now that they're trying to get regionally accredited, they are very serious about the quality of education that they provide and about the quality of students that walk through the door.

jenny: I'm with you on the late 70s - early 90s as being the worst era for fashion. The sad part is - some of the 80s fashion styles are coming back!

JohnK said...

Hey, you left out the discussion of the last 40 years of blandness!

BTW, that George Washington hair was worn by young women too, not just spinsters...
It was a bad time for womens fashion for a bit there in the 50s.

The 40s was the high point for women.

Anonymous said...

Nothing beats 40s-era for sexiness for women--modern sexiness, anyway. Those clothes are really cut for a figure--a natural, tailored set of curves.
It was also a very attractive era for men's suits and pants.

Kali Fontecchio said...

"The 40s was the high point for women."

And the 20s! 40s + 20s= I wish I had that kind of stuff in my closet!

Anonymous said...

Hey Max,

"When you are here, you leave your style at home. You can't convince me that your sailor moon drawing is your style, I've seen 50 others like it this week. If you are sick of copying other artists, you are in the right place. If you don't want to work, go home, you are paying too much money to continue a hobby."

That sounds like Angela Love. Am I right?

Other students will probably hate her, but don't pay any attention to them, they'll be the ones that drop out. She's jaded and cynical, but she's actually a really good person and knows what she's talking about. If you work hard, she'll recognize this.

As far as dropout numbers, here's what I witnessed. (This was about 7 years ago, so it could be different now, but I have a feeling it's the same.) Half of the first year students dropped out before the end of their first year (most in the first quarter). Out of the remaining students about half of them dropped out before they got to their last quarter. Out of those remaining students about half of them actually passed their final reviews. So probably one out of eight people actually made it all the way to the end.

Just work hard and stay away from the slackers and druggies (usually they are one in the same) and you'll be fine. Be one of the ones!

Emmett said...

As far as sfx editors go, I think Pixar's sound editors , such as Gary Rydstrom, get a good amount of credit. Of course some of their sound crew are also part of Industrial Light and Magic.

Anonymous said...

my father said he saw the Stooges live performance way back when. essentially all the sfx were done by a single man way at the back of the theater at a table with hundreds of sound instruments. My father said he moved at light speed to to make all the noises syncing up perfectly with the stooges on stage. That would have been quite a sight to see.

Sean Worsham said...

I'm hungry for Pizza, I think I'll order a thin crust w/ sausage and bacon mmmmmm.

Marlo said...

i like how you used that "inconceivable" actor dude from the princess bride. hahaha

Anonymous said...

Ben Burtt is the ILM sound guru. He sometimes collaborates with Pixar on some things.

Elliot Cowan said...

The Inconceivable dude is Wally Shawn and the image is from My Dinner With Andre, which is appropriate innit?

J. J. Hunsecker said...

>>i like how you used that "inconceivable" actor dude from the princess bride. hahaha<<

Oh, Marlo, thou art so young...
Those are film clips from "My Dinner With Andre". The actor's name is Wallace Shawn.

David Germain said...

We agreed that what art schools need to clean up their act is a few nazi art teachers who would force students to learn how to draw whether they like it or not.

Not a nazi, but one art teacher from my school was born and raised in Communist Russia. Boy was she strict and precise.

But it was certianly a good education for us. You don't develop if everyone's kissing your ass all the time.

Corbett Vanoni said...

Marlo's young because she cited an actor from a movie in '86 and you cited the same actor from a movie in '81?
I don't follow, Honeyslicker.

I've recently become obsessed with Larry Fine though I may or may not have come to terms with the fact that I think Shemp is my favorite stooge. When my DVDs come in I'll be able to resurrect those childhood memories and figure out all these confusing feelings I have inside.

- Corbett

Max Ward said...

Casey: Haha!! It is Angela Love!!! I think she is great. I took classes with her when I was in high school, she is really an amazing teacher if you are really willing to learn.

J. J. Hunsecker said...

>>Marlo's young because she cited an actor from a movie in '86 and you cited the same actor from a movie in '81?
I don't follow, Honeyslicker.<<

Vanilla,

You must be young, too. There was a great cataclysmic change that occurred between '81 and '86, the repercussions of which we as a society are still trying to come to grips with. So horrible was this event that many have simply refused to acknowledge it's existence, instead preferring to block it out from their memories.

Okay, nothing like that ever happened. I simply assumed from Marlo's comments that she saw Princess Bride as a child on video many years after the movie was released, and didn't realize that the same actor was in a little art film titled My Dinner With Andre.

Robert Hume said...

I like how something as silly as baggy shorts can be blamed by anyone for the down fall of Western Society. HAHAHA
Dispite what anyone may feel about kids wearing baggy shorts today, you have to at LEAST admit that it's an improvement from those short ass shorts everyone was wearing back in the 80s! I mean come on! HAHAHA

david said...

ahhaah. you ate the pizza! i would have done the same.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Jenny: I'll post about it sometime. I'm glad you defend it because that'll make for a more interesting exchange.

Max, Casey: Sounds like a good teacher but the students didn't appreciate her.

Jennifer: Naw, they were aleep when I got home!

Kali: I wonder if by "20s" you mean the short flapper styles of the later 20s? I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the early 20s clothes which were long and shapeless.

John Perez: Fascinating!

Robert: You might have a point, but there are some pretty outrageous baggy shorts. The ones in the photo aren't very baggy but I put them up anyway because they violate every design principal known to man.

Jenny Lerew said...

"I'm talking about the early 20s clothes which were long and shapeless."

DON'T listen to him, Kali! They were NOT!
Many of them had a dropped waist, that's all. If they were shapeless or sexless that was due to the figure underneath, not the dress. But I'll save it for a pizza fight, okay Eddie? ; )

Sean Worsham said...

>But I'll save it for a pizza fight, >okay Eddie? ; )

Mmmm. Stop talking about pizza everyone, I gotta grab me another slice from the fridge :)

Robert Hume said...

"You might have a point, but there are some pretty outrageous baggy shorts. The ones in the photo aren't very baggy but I put them up anyway because they violate every design principal known to man."

Yeah I really don't like baggy clothes either, Eddie. I was just teasing. Keep up the great and interesting posts! :)

Jerry Beck said...

The genius behind the Stooges sound effects was director Edward Bernds.

Check this link for more info about Bernds:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/person/80315/Edward-Bernds

Anonymous said...

"you have to at LEAST admit that it's an improvement from those short ass shorts everyone was wearing back in the 80s!"

Seriously! Last night I was at the grocery store and, upon turning a corner, I saw this guy with a cute wife. He was wearing the shortest shorts possible. Like daisy dukes short but on a guy. Normally, I'd be looking at the girl, but this was a fashion nightmare I couldn't take my eyes off of. For some reason I thought "He must be Russian." Then all of a sudden they started talking to each other in a foreign language and I swear it was Russian (or some other Eastern European language)!

No man should be showing that much leg ever.

Hey Eddie, speaking of teaching, have you ever taught any classes?

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Jerry: Woooowww!!!!!! What a treat! All that information about the guy who did the Stooges efx! Many thanks!

Casey: Sure, I've taught! I looove teaching!

Jenny: Boy, you're still defending those dresses! I hope tou're right about them, but...

Jenny Lerew said...

Of course I'm still. Whyever not? It's just a couple of comments--all totally gratis(and fun). ; )

William said...

Jesus this is the best blog in the world.