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Monday, September 11, 2006
Monday, September 04, 2006
A MOVIE REVIEW AND SOME OTHER STUFF
By Jim McAllister
Just when it looked like Hollywood was going down for the count, they had a great summer. The summer of 2006 showed an increase of $200 million in box office receipts over 2005. A big part of that success has to be attributed to the continuing success of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.....QUICK MOVIE REVIEW...Have you seen "Little Miss Sunshine"? It’s a great little indie film about Olive, a young, plain, and minimally talented little girl (Abigail Breslin) who wants to attend a beauty and talent contest for girls in California. The winner of the contest will be crowned "Little Miss Sunshine" which is kind of ironic at the time of the re-emergence of the JonBenet mystery. Most of the little girls in the contest eerily remind one of JonBenet. Olive is a member of a dysfunctional Albuquerque family which includes father Richard (Greg Kinnear), a loser trying to sell a motivation program that nobody wants, mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) who strives to keep the family together, brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) who won’t speak as he dreams of entering the Air Force Academy, gay uncle Frank, (Steve Carell), and Grandpa (Alan Arkin), a heroin snorting, foul mouthed, old man. The family decides to head to California in a beat up VW microbus and that is where the fun begins as they endure a series of mishaps along the way. The movie is funny and also injects some pathos as this family is so pathetic. This film is funny, sad, and heartwarming with fine performances by the cast. Greg Kinnear continues to improve since his days on "Talk Soup." It has been out a while and you may have to look for it at the art houses but it is worth it. Run time 1:42, Rated "R".....
Just when it looked like Hollywood was going down for the count, they had a great summer. The summer of 2006 showed an increase of $200 million in box office receipts over 2005. A big part of that success has to be attributed to the continuing success of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.....QUICK MOVIE REVIEW...Have you seen "Little Miss Sunshine"? It’s a great little indie film about Olive, a young, plain, and minimally talented little girl (Abigail Breslin) who wants to attend a beauty and talent contest for girls in California. The winner of the contest will be crowned "Little Miss Sunshine" which is kind of ironic at the time of the re-emergence of the JonBenet mystery. Most of the little girls in the contest eerily remind one of JonBenet. Olive is a member of a dysfunctional Albuquerque family which includes father Richard (Greg Kinnear), a loser trying to sell a motivation program that nobody wants, mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) who strives to keep the family together, brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) who won’t speak as he dreams of entering the Air Force Academy, gay uncle Frank, (Steve Carell), and Grandpa (Alan Arkin), a heroin snorting, foul mouthed, old man. The family decides to head to California in a beat up VW microbus and that is where the fun begins as they endure a series of mishaps along the way. The movie is funny and also injects some pathos as this family is so pathetic. This film is funny, sad, and heartwarming with fine performances by the cast. Greg Kinnear continues to improve since his days on "Talk Soup." It has been out a while and you may have to look for it at the art houses but it is worth it. Run time 1:42, Rated "R".....
Baseball season is basically over for me as the Diamondbacks are finished after being swept by Washington this past weekend and the Reds are circling the drain. Are you ready for some football? I’m excited about the Cincinnati Bengals again this year. I know pre-season games don’t mean much as half the guys on the field will be cut by the season’s opener but I am still impressed by the way the Bengal’s romped through their 4 games. I haven’t lived in Cincy since 1967 but I never lose my home town loyalty for the sports teams, GO BENGALS!.....Speaking of Cincinnati, I recently had the privilege of interviewing Former University of Cincinnati and ten year NBA player Connie Dierking for the sports page of THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Connie played in the 1950's and ‘60's and was a great interview.....Good-bye to Andre Agassi. He had quite a career and was good enough to stay competitive in big time tennis until age 36. I’m sure we will see more of him, probably in a color analyst role for tournaments....
This in from Suzanne Condie Lambert. William H. Macy, a true professional and a fine actor, comments on the work ethic of actress (actress?) Lindsay Lohan: "You can’t show up late. It’s very, very disrespectful. I think what an actor has to realize is that when you show up an hour late, 150 people have been scrambling to cover for you. There is not an apology big enough in the world to have to make 150 people scramble. It’s nothing but disrepect." Right on William H.! The thing that amazes me is that Lohan is such a non-entity in films. She is not good looking, she has no charm, and she can’t act worth a damn. Have you heard anyone clamoring to see a Lindsay Lohan movie lately? It’s the same old story, it’s not what you know but who you know and she has enough clout to keep her in the mix. She couldn’t carry Katharine Hepburn’s handbag. Kate was asked once what she thought of tardiness. Her reply? "There are no excuses"......
Can you believe Mitzi Gaynor just turned 75 and little Macaulay Culkin is divorced and 26? I don’t want to admit where that places me!.....Now we will have the "morning after" pill. I wonder what the Republican right thinks of that little morsel.....In case you need further proof that there are weird people in the world department: A guy in Kingman, Arizona started shooting at firemen who refused to rescue his cat that was stuck in a tree. He called the fire department and reported that the tree was on fire because he knew that the firemen would not respond to a cat stuck in a tree. When they arrived and saw the situation, they started to leave telling the guy to call the animal welfare folks or wait until the cat came down on its own. The man went in the house, got a gun, and came out shooting. Luckily, no one was injured and the fool was arrested by the Mohave County Sheriff’s department.....
Recent deaths: Actor Glenn Ford, 90, Olympic champion and former congressman Bob Mathias, 75, Jazz great Maynard Ferguson, 78, and Australian host of "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, 44....A couple of months ago, I did a column about my favorite mystery writer, John Dunning. John is a great writer and author of my favorite mystery, "Two O’Clock, Eastern Wartime" along with the Cliff Janeway series of mysteries. John has experienced some health problems this year that required several surgeries but is slowly convalescing. I am sure he would appreciate some "best wishes". If you get a chance you may drop him a line at books@oldalgonquin.com. Thanks a lot, see you next time. JM (Comments? azjimmcallister@cox.net.)
Monday, August 28, 2006
WHEN CIGARETTES RULED THE AIRWAVES
(Originally published in the INDEPENDENT, October, 2005)
by Jim McAllister
The date is January 1, 1971. At 11:59 p.m. on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", a commercial runs for Virginia Slims cigarettes. This commercial is significant since it is the last advertisement for cigarettes ever run on television thus ending a long run of cute ads and jingles designed to impress the public with the virtues of smoking.
If you are a certain age, you probably remember most of these ads: There was, "I’d walk a mile for a Camel", "You get a lot to like with a Marlboro; filter, flavor, flip-top box" (You can also get lung cancer as two of the handsome, rugged, Marlboro men found out), "Smoke Kent with the micronite filter", and "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should". When chastised by English teachers for using bad grammar (using "like" instead of "as") Winston replied, "What do you want, good taste or good grammar?" I never heard the teachers complain about, "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch" which is equally bad grammar. But, would smokers really care as long as they had their precious smokes? There was Willie the Penguin proclaiming: "Tired of hots? Smoke Kools", Oasis touting, "Smoke the big O", Old Gold with their dancing packs and on and on, ad infinitum.
When radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh came on the air with commercial radio in 1919, a new medium was established for companies to advertise their products. Cigarettes had been popular in print ads for years. Radio, and later television, would become natural outlets for their messages.
1933 was a fateful year for young 22 year old Johnnie Roventini. In April of that Depression racked year, Johnnie was a bellboy working at the Hotel New Yorker in New York City. Johnnie enjoyed a bit of fame as he was considered, at four feet in height, "the smallest bellboy in the world" and featured as such on the hotel’s postcards. One evening Alfred E. Lyon, Vice President of Sales for Philip Morris cigarettes and Milton Biow, President of the advertising agency that handled the Philip Morris account, happened to be in the lobby of the New Yorker. They had quite a task ahead of them: How to increase sales of a little known cigarette brand. They had already established a logo of a snappy bellboy shouting the merits of their brand but felt that they needed a live version to further establish the Philip Morris name. Enter Johnnie Roventini. As a bellboy, he was required to call out guest’s names in the lobby if those individuals had messages. A routine task for many, Johnnie poured his heart and soul into calling the guest’s names. He did it in such a convincing manner that he made the person feel like the most important person in the hotel! When Lyon and Biow heard Johnnie, they decided to give him a radio audition without letting him know. They gave him a dollar and asked him to page, "Mr. Philip Morris." After a few calls of "Call for Phil-lip Morr-ees" echoed through the New Yorker lobby, they knew they had their spokesman.
When offered the job of saying, "Call for Philip Morris" over the radio, Johnnie was a bit reluctant to accept. Radio was still fairly new and he was making $25 per week at the hotel, good money in 1933. He did eventually take the job and became an advertising icon for over forty years completing his Horatio Alger journey with his death at 88 in 1998.
by Jim McAllister
The date is January 1, 1971. At 11:59 p.m. on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", a commercial runs for Virginia Slims cigarettes. This commercial is significant since it is the last advertisement for cigarettes ever run on television thus ending a long run of cute ads and jingles designed to impress the public with the virtues of smoking.
If you are a certain age, you probably remember most of these ads: There was, "I’d walk a mile for a Camel", "You get a lot to like with a Marlboro; filter, flavor, flip-top box" (You can also get lung cancer as two of the handsome, rugged, Marlboro men found out), "Smoke Kent with the micronite filter", and "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should". When chastised by English teachers for using bad grammar (using "like" instead of "as") Winston replied, "What do you want, good taste or good grammar?" I never heard the teachers complain about, "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch" which is equally bad grammar. But, would smokers really care as long as they had their precious smokes? There was Willie the Penguin proclaiming: "Tired of hots? Smoke Kools", Oasis touting, "Smoke the big O", Old Gold with their dancing packs and on and on, ad infinitum.
When radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh came on the air with commercial radio in 1919, a new medium was established for companies to advertise their products. Cigarettes had been popular in print ads for years. Radio, and later television, would become natural outlets for their messages.
1933 was a fateful year for young 22 year old Johnnie Roventini. In April of that Depression racked year, Johnnie was a bellboy working at the Hotel New Yorker in New York City. Johnnie enjoyed a bit of fame as he was considered, at four feet in height, "the smallest bellboy in the world" and featured as such on the hotel’s postcards. One evening Alfred E. Lyon, Vice President of Sales for Philip Morris cigarettes and Milton Biow, President of the advertising agency that handled the Philip Morris account, happened to be in the lobby of the New Yorker. They had quite a task ahead of them: How to increase sales of a little known cigarette brand. They had already established a logo of a snappy bellboy shouting the merits of their brand but felt that they needed a live version to further establish the Philip Morris name. Enter Johnnie Roventini. As a bellboy, he was required to call out guest’s names in the lobby if those individuals had messages. A routine task for many, Johnnie poured his heart and soul into calling the guest’s names. He did it in such a convincing manner that he made the person feel like the most important person in the hotel! When Lyon and Biow heard Johnnie, they decided to give him a radio audition without letting him know. They gave him a dollar and asked him to page, "Mr. Philip Morris." After a few calls of "Call for Phil-lip Morr-ees" echoed through the New Yorker lobby, they knew they had their spokesman.
When offered the job of saying, "Call for Philip Morris" over the radio, Johnnie was a bit reluctant to accept. Radio was still fairly new and he was making $25 per week at the hotel, good money in 1933. He did eventually take the job and became an advertising icon for over forty years completing his Horatio Alger journey with his death at 88 in 1998.
With radio, television, and print advertising, cigarettes had a stronghold on advertising for many years. The print ads from the past are actually comical to read now. Olympic swimmer and later TV star Buster Crabbe touted cigarettes as giving him "better wind" while training. Chesterfield once advertised that you should "smoke for health." Another brand boasted that they were "recommended by doctors."
Smoking and the media have been lifelong companions. Tobacco still spends $12.5 billion per year on promotion but in the period of 2000-2002, sales actually dropped 5.5%. Still, 2,000 kids per day are lighting their first cigarette. Peer pressure is strong with kids, nobody wants to be "weird." My advice to them? Being weird beats being dead. Don’t smoke! (Comments? Questions? azjimmcallister@cox.net).
Smoking and the media have been lifelong companions. Tobacco still spends $12.5 billion per year on promotion but in the period of 2000-2002, sales actually dropped 5.5%. Still, 2,000 kids per day are lighting their first cigarette. Peer pressure is strong with kids, nobody wants to be "weird." My advice to them? Being weird beats being dead. Don’t smoke! (Comments? Questions? azjimmcallister@cox.net).
Sunday, August 20, 2006
BASEBALL, YANKEE STADIUM, AND A KINKAJOU
by Jim McAllister
Welcome to late August in the desert we love called Arizona. It hasn’t been as hot this summer as in some past years and we have actually had a few decent storms during the monsoon. Whatever the weather, it is still my favorite place to live. Here are a few thoughts that just happened to cross my mind recently.....I like Harvey Mackay’s syndicated weekly column. Last week he discussed thinking before speaking and mentioned several quotes from history that he considers really dumb. I disagree from the standpoint that although the quotes seem dumb now, they didn’t seem so ridiculous at the time. It’s easy to look back in retrospect and say , "Wow! That guy must have been nuts to say that!" If someone said in 1999 that oil would be over $70 per barrel in 2006, they would be laughed out of the room. Have you looked at the latest oil cost? Anyway, Harvey lists some good ones.
Welcome to late August in the desert we love called Arizona. It hasn’t been as hot this summer as in some past years and we have actually had a few decent storms during the monsoon. Whatever the weather, it is still my favorite place to live. Here are a few thoughts that just happened to cross my mind recently.....I like Harvey Mackay’s syndicated weekly column. Last week he discussed thinking before speaking and mentioned several quotes from history that he considers really dumb. I disagree from the standpoint that although the quotes seem dumb now, they didn’t seem so ridiculous at the time. It’s easy to look back in retrospect and say , "Wow! That guy must have been nuts to say that!" If someone said in 1999 that oil would be over $70 per barrel in 2006, they would be laughed out of the room. Have you looked at the latest oil cost? Anyway, Harvey lists some good ones.
For example: In 1899 the guy who ran the U.S. Patent Office told President McKinley that he should close the Office because "Everything that can be invented has been invented." I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time as cars were arriving, the electric light was relatively new, aircraft was four years away and Marconi was working on that radio thingamajigger. What else could there possibly be? In 1949 Popular Mechanics magazine talked about the future of computers with the statement: "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." Uh, huh. How about this doozy: Ken Olsen, president and co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, once said that "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. The personal computer will fall flat on its face in business." I guess these guys should have followed the advice that a lawyer once gave me. When I asked him, "What should I say?" he replied, "Don’t say anything!".....
There is a guy in New York named Ryan Leli who loves the New York Mets. Leli, 18, loves the Mets so much that he counterfeited press identification credentials to get into games and mingle with the players. He actually had a conversation with catcher Mike Piazza before the Mets brass got suspicious and contacted the cops. Leli is charged with possession of a forged document, larceny, impersonation, and a bevy of other stuff and could face seven years in prison if convicted. I think that what he did was pretty cool, kind of like the guy in Boston many years ago who used to stand above the tunnel to the players entrance at Fenway Park and snatch player’s hats. Hopefully Leli will only get a slap on the wrist and I admire him for his nerve. It would be a shame if he had to do time while O. J. still walks around free.....Speaking of baseball, believe it or not, Yankee Stadium is on its last legs. A new Yankee Stadium is being built next to the old one. So much for tradition and the great memories in the old place of Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, and all the famous events that happened there since it was built in 1923 for $3 million. Nothing that involves the power freak that is Steinbrenner surprises me. Gee, George, now you can make even MORE money, like you really need it!.....
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