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A Gale memoir? Don't hold your breath!


Brock

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Heard he was visited by Gale's ghost who warned him in no uncertain manner to cease and desist!

 

This letter is SOO cool. Do you know who was writing the Gale bio for Bear Manor?

If others have not visited the site (bearmanormedia.com) there are scads of bios about supporting and lesser known players (Verna Felton, Joan Davis, Ann Sothern) and many memoirs from people whose names are not familiar but have great stories to tell (writers, early TV directors) that need to be preserved. Gale's bio would be a perfect fit.

I don't know the story behind Bear Manor but he's doing a wonderful service for the preservation of entertainment history....and these books can't be making much money.

Although it's slightly more money I always buy as direct to the source as I can (rather than Amazon). It's scary that print is disappearing and it seems to be happening at an alarming rate.

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This letter is SOO cool. Do you know who was writing the Gale bio for Bear Manor?

If others have not visited the site (bearmanormedia.com) there are scads of bios about supporting and lesser known players (Verna Felton, Joan Davis, Ann Sothern) and many memoirs from people whose names are not familiar but have great stories to tell (writers, early TV directors) that need to be preserved. Gale's bio would be a perfect fit.

I don't know the story behind Bear Manor but he's doing a wonderful service for the preservation of entertainment history....and these books can't be making much money.

Although it's slightly more money I always buy as direct to the source as I can (rather than Amazon). It's scary that print is disappearing and it seems to be happening at an alarming rate.

 

 

The author was to be Jim Manago who also wrote a book on Shirley Booth, I believe.

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This letter is SOO cool. Do you know who was writing the Gale bio for Bear Manor?

If others have not visited the site (bearmanormedia.com) there are scads of bios about supporting and lesser known players (Verna Felton, Joan Davis, Ann Sothern) and many memoirs from people whose names are not familiar but have great stories to tell (writers, early TV directors) that need to be preserved. Gale's bio would be a perfect fit.

I don't know the story behind Bear Manor but he's doing a wonderful service for the preservation of entertainment history....and these books can't be making much money.

Although it's slightly more money I always buy as direct to the source as I can (rather than Amazon). It's scary that print is disappearing and it seems to be happening at an alarming rate.

You're absolutely right and some of these people are even more fascinating than the superstars we know every detail about.

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The author was to be Jim Manago who also wrote a book on Shirley Booth, I believe.

 

 

There's a Shirley Booth book out there?? I'd LOVE to read a bio on her -- what a talented lady!

Note: Season 2 of Hazel has just been announced for an early February release, with Shout Factory! picking up where the ever-lacking Sony Home Entertainment, DVD division, left off!

 

Hooray, Shout! Now bring on the rest of Maude, The Nanny and countless other "abandoned" Sony titles!

 

I wouldn't mind if you released the one season foray into sitcom-land called Bette, either! ;)

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There's a Shirley Booth book out there?? I'd LOVE to read a bio on her -- what a talented lady!

Note: Season 2 of Hazel has just been announced for an early February release, with Shout Factory! picking up where the ever-lacking Sony Home Entertainment, DVD division, left off!

 

Hooray, Shout! Now bring on the rest of Maude, The Nanny and countless other "abandoned" Sony titles!

 

I wouldn't mind if you released the one season foray into sitcom-land called Bette, either! ;)

Oh what a great idea, i LOVED Bette! Ms Midler's TV project.

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There's a Shirley Booth book out there?? I'd LOVE to read a bio on her -- what a talented lady!

 

 

Check amazon because there are two Booth bios out there, both published relatively recently. I never saw "Hazel" but am now seeing it (and enjoying it immensely) on my new favorite channel Antenna TV! There are many episodes without a laugh track.

NBC just didn't have good comedies. Before Cheers, I can't think of one. (The parts of "Mothers In Law" were individually so much better than the sum.)

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The author was to be Jim Manago who also wrote a book on Shirley Booth, I believe.

Jim Manago is also the author of a Shirley Booth blog http://shirleyboothstory.blogspot.com/ - lots of posting by him including news on the upcoming SEASON TWO DVD at long last of Hazel and his SECOND book on Shirley Booth, centering on her romance with her husband.

 

 

Manago's book has several photos of Booth from Thomas J. Watson's collection.

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Now THERE'S a book I'd get -- "The Gale Gordon Archive" -- with mainly pictures and an occasional word from Gale -- this letter included here would start the book off as a foreword of sorts, assuring the reader that hardly a peep would be coming from him and that his pictures and occasional interviews would set the scene.

 

And considering the fact he was around for 94 years, I think it is a great loss to entertainment history that nobody did a biography on Sid Melton. His association with Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord and co was (with Lucy and Dick Van Dyke) the comedy shows that were among the best from the 1960s.

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Now THERE'S a book I'd get -- "The Gale Gordon Archive" -- with mainly pictures and an occasional word from Gale -- this letter included here would start the book off as a foreword of sorts, assuring the reader that hardly a peep would be coming from him and that his pictures and occasional interviews would set the scene.

 

That is a BRILLIANT idea, actually! I'd like to tackle something like that if I knew there would be an audience for it.

 

 

And considering the fact he was around for 94 years, I think it is a great loss to entertainment history that nobody did a biography on Sid Melton. His association with Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord and co was (with Lucy and Dick Van Dyke) the comedy shows that were among the best from the 1960s.

 

Agreed! I hope S'More Entertainment gets their act together to release further seasons of Make Room For Daddy. Their interview with Sid on the latest release was terrific.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I totally agree vivfantoo -- Brock, you were BORN to unleash "The Gale Gordon Archive" coffee table book on the world!

 

First people I would ask for some technical advice (if they've got time) -- Lucie and Desi and perhaps make the book a co-production with their company: this way, it would be (in a sense) authorized as they considered Gale family, and all of you together would ensure it would be something even he'd be proud to have been a part of.

 

If you can get on the good side of the CBS/Paramount people for the use of stills and production photos, you've got it made -- I often wondered how some of the "I Love Lucy" books were published, with scores of pictures, yet with the exception of a few books (notably "Loving Lucy", off the top of my head), few look at her work in the 60s through to the 80s. At least yours would look at that whole period and would make it readable to not only Lucy fans but movie/tv fans as Gale did many guest shots on other shows and appeared in a few movies.

 

In fact, I can suggest the cover photo for this magnum opus -- the reverse picture of the cover of Season 4 of "Here's Lucy" -- that has Gale looking with great trepidation at Lucy in the right foreground -- the reverse picture has Lucy peeking from behind that pillar with Gale this time in the right foreground (with a look on his face that suggests someone whispering off camera 'Starring Gale Gordon'....another title for the book perhaps?)

 

Another great picture is the one used for his foreword to "Loving Lucy" -- I'm sure everyone has both pictures out there -- if you saw them, you'd know what I mean. You have so many great ones of his early career, this would fill up that part of the book, perhaps a listing of his early work (including "Flash Gordon") would be of great interest and then once you hit "Dennis The Menace" and "The Lucy Show", you're on your own.

 

Also if you can track down those childrens books he wrote, they would now be in public domain -- you could include them in this book, and in doing so, inadvertedly have Gale as a co-author (and not be an ego trip for anybody!)

 

Two books come to mind in an approach to attempt this book -- "My Life in Pictures" by Charlie Chaplin and "Laurel and Hardy" by John McCabe, Richard Bann and Al Kilgore -- both books from the mid-1970s. Both of these books let the pictures tell a million words -- no doubt when people see the crazy stills from Gale's work with Lucy and co, it will do the same thing.

 

Brock -- it has to be done, I think on behalf of us all here, why don't you give it a shot?

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  • 3 weeks later...

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