Peter Mac as Judy Garland celebrates the arrival of Mother's Day, Middle School Students act out real life drama, Pogues's expat tells all.
Steve Soboroff's typewriter time machines
Some people collect parasol handles, baseball cards, ceramic cats. L.A. businessman Steve Soboroff collects one of the most cumbersome objects this side of Ward Kimball's steam locomotive: typewriters.
And while some typewriter enthusiasts collect rare or interesting machines, whether or not they have significant meaning, Soboroff said he has strict requirements when purchasing the machines.
"I'm minor league when it comes to collecting, because I have a caveat on my typewriters. The typewriters that I collect were previously owned by famous people," he explained.
Soboroff owns 16 historic typewriters, including machines owned by Ernest Hemingway, John Lennon, Joe DiMaggio, the Unabomber, Jack Kevorkian, and Andy Rooney.
"Andy Rooney was thinking when he was sitting at that typewriter. And so was John Updike, and so was Ernest Hemingway. Tell me how you feel when you just typed on Andy Rooney's typewriter, having been a fan for all these years," he said.
According to Soboroff, winning Rooney's writing tool was a steal at the auctions. "It was cheap, it was a joke. Nobody showed up at that auction – $700. I probably would have paid $5,000 in my brain, and I think that as part of the collection that it's probably worth four or five times that, because John Lennon's typewriter I have been offered $250,000 for," he continued.
Soboroff said he loves knowing that Lennon crafted his first songs on the typewriter he now owns; that the Unabomber's typewriter is missing parts that were used to construct bombs. And aside from owning a piece of history, Soboroff revels in discovering treasures within the typewriter cases.
"In the case of Joe DiMaggio's I found his scissors-clipped up Master Card," he recalled. "I tried to use it and they were so busy that the owner didn't even look at the credit card, and he just swiped it through and said, 'No, this doesn't work, do you have another one?' I said, 'No **** it doesn't work, it's Joe DiMaggio's from 40 years ago.'"
Soboroff discovered a more valuable item in Hemingway's case: old negatives. "Inside one of the boxes – it looked like burnt bacon. I went to touch one, and it turned to dust in my hand. But it was obvious what they were, they were parts of negatives," he said, adding that he had someone steam and let the film settle before making a print of each of the remaining negatives.
"I sent it to the number one Hemingway scholar in the world, and she came back to me within two minutes and said 'Oh my gosh, that's Ernest Hemingway when he was two-years-old, that's his father, the boat is on their lake in Michigan,'" he remembered.
But Soboroff's collection isn't purely for private enjoyment – the businessman opens his collection for public viewing in order to donate money to charities. He said that he's thrilled people will drive 200 miles to look.
Soboroff has already made $200,000 at charity auctions, by giving enthusiasts the chance to sit in front of these time machines and peck out a page of prose.
To Soboroff, a typewriter carries more meaning than the story of the hands that have touched the keys of the machine.
"What the typewriter symbolizes now is timelessness, and also a slower, more thoughtful way of life," he said. "What is made these days that will be used 60, 70, 80, 100 years from now? I don't think there's anything, and these typewriters have hundreds of years to go."
Andy Rooney's comedic take on typewriters vs. computers:
'Old Jews Telling Jokes' is old news for Irv Brecher collaborator Hank Rosenfeld
You've probably seen one of these clips already.
It’s part of the new stage show “Old Jews Telling Jokes.”
Old Jews? Old news! Milton Berle, George Burns and Jack Benny. Those are three old Jews telling jokes. And I spent seven years with Irving Brecher, who wrote for all of them. When I helped him write his memoirs, he wanted to call it “Scripts & Crypts,” because he said, “What’s funnier than death?”
Irv had a book called "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor" that had 14 pages of death jokes, and he took me to some of the funniest funerals ever, for Morey Amsterdam, Buddy Hackett and Jan Murray. These were funny old Jews who got so old they um, died, but even at their memorials they were funny. So many friends wanted to speak at Jan Murray’s funeral that the rabbi warned mourners: "Just to remind you, Shabbos begins tomorrow at sunset..."
I read once that Jewish humor is "laughter with sadness in the eye." Irv had that look, and so did his friends. Irv told me a joke Milton Berle used:
“Anytime somebody orders a corned beef sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise, somewhere in the world, a Jew dies.”
“He would say that on stage!!??” I blurted out, shocked.
“To Jewish audiences,” Irv said.
Irv told one to a big group (you can hear him tell it in the audio version we've posted here):
Actor Pia Zadora was talking with her husband about her screen career, which flopped. "Movies aren't for me, but on stage, where I can connect with a live audience, I'm wonderful." So her husband funded a production for her. "The Diary of Anne Frank." Pia Zadora played the lead, and in the third act when the Nazi's rushed in and demanded, "Where is she!?" 400 people in the audience all shouted at the same time, "She's in the attic!"
Freud wrote, "the capacity for humor wanes when we are overwhelmed by shame, guilt, and depression." Bupkis! Groucho Marx, another comic Irv wrote for, said reverence and irreverence are the same thing. So either nothing is sacred to them, or everything is. Especially life.
At Hillside Cemetery in Culver City, the retirement home of so many Jewish mirth-masters, I saw these words from the prophet Isaiah carved into a chapel wall: “The Lord God maketh death to vanish in life eternal. And he wipeth away tears from off all faces.” So do old comedians.
Huell Howser's retiring: An Off-Ramp remembrance
11/27/2012 Update from John Rabe: Huell Howser is reportedly retiring, without a big announcement. There's a nice collection of videos and appreciations on LA Observed, and I'm reposting our long segment with him, from the glorious day he let us tag along as he taped a whole show around a single food item. Huell, we love you and you'll be missed.
When we explain Off-Ramp to people, they often say, "Oh, it's like Huell Howser, but on the radio!" We take it as a compliment, and were delighted when Huell, whose home base is KCET public television, asked Off-Ramp to spend the day with him.
The impetus for the Huell Howser/Off-Ramp tour of L.A. was National Donut Day, a celebration of what might be L.A.'s favorite food. We started at the Salvation Army's kitchen at the VA campus in West L.A., where they made donuts the way the Doughboys liked them in World War I — cakey and substantial. Then, it was off to India's Sweets and Spices in Glendale for some vada, which is a delicious savory donut. Finally, to East L.A. for churros, one of the most delicious confections in the world ... when they're hot.
Here's what I learned about Huell:
• Huell is truly curious about everything, but what he likes is to learn, meaning he's not sitting at his home in the high desert, or his place in Palm Springs, or his pad in L.A. reading more about donuts right now and trying out recipes. He's off to the next thing.
• Huell is very sensitive about his accent. He says, rightly, that it's ridiculous to think someone doing shows about California shouldn't have a Tennessee accent, when the whole idea of California is that it's a wonderful melting pot of cultures. "Should I have a Filipino accent? An Armenian accent?" He also says that Southerners are the last allowable target of jokes, and he's probably right about that, too.
• Huell loves his fans but he does not like taking photos with them when those photos are going to wind up on Facebook among a million other photos. Photos are a reflex now, and what takes one minute for one of his fans equals easily half-an-hour a day (or more) for Huell when he's out in public.
• Huell thinks much of TV is too fussy, and that over-elaborate production is taking the spontaneity out of it. He uses 99 percent of what his cameraman, Cameron Mitchell, shoots. He sets up the shots ahead of time, lets the subject know roughly what he'll be asking, then bulls forward with simple intros and transitions. (I personally think there's a middle ground, which is what you hear in Off-Ramp. We do plenty of post-production, but only when needed.) It accomplishes two things: Stuff happens in his segments, and people feel at ease to discuss things and tell stories because the set-up and interview is simple; and Huell is able to cover an enormous amount of ground. Go to his Web site and check out the stuff they've done in 20 years, and you'll find yourself saying, "That's amazing."
Yes, it’s easy to make fun of his accent and his boundless enthusiasm, and the way he talks to his cameraman. But over 20 years of California’s Gold and all the spinoffs, he’s has given voice to thousands of California citizens and has been the conduit for teaching volumes of California history. And for that, Huell Howser truly is California’s gold.
Now, to see how Huell plays on commercial TV, check out this video of an extended gag played on a local Sacramento reporter who did Huell Howser imitations. I love how Huell just takes over the set when he ultimately joins the show in progress.
— John Rabe
Peter Mac as Judy Garland - a 3 dimensional tribute
UPDATE: Peter Mac is working on a special Mother's Day Judy performance! See his website for info.
Writer Jackie Collins said what Peter Mac does "is not a drag show," that his Judy Garland is "brilliant." Mac, a New York transplant, has been performing tributes to Judy Garland for 11 years and brings all of Judy to the stage, not just her addictions. Mac and musical director Bryan Miller have secured a long-term gig at the French Marketplace in West Hollywood, and Off-Ramp was there opening night.
Pogues accordionist previews his memoir, "Here Comes Everybody"
UPDATE: James Fearnley writes with new news! See below.
I knew the moment James Fearnley of the Pogues sat down at the microphone at the Mohn Broadcast Center last week that not only would it be very difficult to edit the interview down to six-minutes - which is long for us - but that the stuff we left on the cutting room floor would be great stuff for a special podcast. Or Poguecast, in this case. So here to have more than half-an-hour with a man who was there at the beginning, 30 years ago this October. And at the end of the podcast you'll hear his new single, "Hey Ho," a deeply beautiful song.
From James Fearnley: As some of you may already know, my memoir Here Comes Everybody: The Story of The Pogues was published in the UK and Ireland last week. I am excited to announce that I will be having an exclusive stateside event to celebrate the first publication:
Where:
Lost & Found
6320 Yucca street
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323 856 5872
When:
Saturday May 26, 2012
2-6pm
Inside Out Community Arts brings theater to middle schools with a touch of real life
On Saturday, May 19, middle schoolers from all over the South Bay will go on stage at Lawndale's Centinela Valley Center of the Arts for a very different kind of school play. Students write, design and act out real-life situations dealing with suicide, rape drug use, domestic violence, and more.
It's all part of a free after school program called Inside Out. Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson went to Dana Middle School in Hawthorne to talk with some of the students and organizers involved with Inside Out.
Varina Bleil, Executive Director of Education for Inside Out Community Arts
"Inside-Out Community Arts provides free after school arts education with disadvantaged youth all over Los Angeles County. We got to the schools after schools working with multidiscipline arts education. Primarily we focus on theatre arts but our approach is different we don't necessarily go in and take a play like 'Our Town' or Shakespeare, we really spend the first half of our program doing a lot of team building, education. Then half way through we stop and we ask the kids to vote on a theme of something thats going on in their life or their community or their families thats important to them, and in that group they come to a unanimous decision, then they spend the next 6 weeks building a play that expresses their thoughts and ideas and opinions on that theme."
Eli Bedford, 7th grader
"I play the character Chris Williams and he is bullied at school and he is also bullied at his dance studio where he wants to become a professional dancer, and his mother is a drug addict and he wants to get support from his mother and brother but they keep shunning him away telling him he's no good so he feels the need to run away and do bad things like suicide. When i knew I was signing into this I was like ' oh, ok.' They said that I have talent because I did another play during the school and so far I like it."
Jaemarie Tabuada, 8th grader
"I have two characters. I am both a bully and a street performer. I play guitar, violin, drums and a iI sing. For the bully I have to basically bully the main characters and for the street performers I am going to be performing a song and hanging out with some of the druggies on the street. I first got introduced the program when my teacher called me in during class to watch an introductory meeting. I found out that I really liked acting so I kept going with the program and now i'm here. This is my first play."
Desire Mitchell, 8th grader
"It makes you show your emotions in a way you can't do by just talking. In this play it really talks about how people do things, like they have tv show like 'Glee' and all these other shows where they spread truth might be a little bit off, like here at Dana we have kids who have been hit by cars and lived and still go here. To us its kind of like we need to be ready for this kind of stuff because we need to be learn different things. We have people here who have been raped, and this play is kind of saying, 'hey, look, we can be raped, we can be beaten, we can do all these things but we're still going to stand tall and be strong.' Hopefully they help we don't want to put anybody down, ya know."
Jazz at the A Frame - great jazz in Betty Hoover's livingroom
UPDATE: Jazz at the A Frame, Betty Hoover's delightful home, might be LA's best jazz club. It's probably the best place to hear jazz ... not cell-phones, talkers, or clinking glasses and plates. Sunday, January 13, Betty's bringing in singer Stephanie Nakasian and bop pianist Hod O'Brien. Rounding out the group: Allen Mezquida, alto sax; Jim DeJulio, bass; Paul Kreibich, drums. An excellent opportunity for us to bring back an Off-Ramp favorite.
The new release from jazz sax player Bruce Babad - A Tribute to Paul Desmond - wasn't recorded in a studio or a local jazz club, but in a private home. It happened in an A-Frame high in the Hollywood Hills, whose owner, a Texan named Betty Hoover, hosts Sunday afternoon concerts every month. For $40 or $50, you get wine, a light lunch, and a couple hours of what some consider some of the best jazz in LA. Off-Ramp went to the CD release party last Sunday.
Dodger Clayton Kershaw and wife Ellen help African orphans; new book "Arise" tells their story
UPDATE 10/9/2013: This seems a pretty good time to bring back a story from 2012 that reminds us that not only is Clayton Kershaw a preternatural pitcher, but he seems to be a hell of a guy with his priorities straight. -- John Rabe
This guy is only 23?
At a news conference at Dodger Stadium this morning, somebody asked why Clayton Kershaw has made repeated trips to Africa with his wife Ellen, to help orphans there.
The Cy Young Award winner replied, in full earnest, ‘Ellen always asked me, “What do you want your legacy to be when you’re done playing baseball?”’ There are always going to be people better than you, he said, who will break your records, “So you want to be remembered for doing something other than baseball.”
The two work through the Dallas-based non-profit Arise Africa, and are building housing for orphans. The details are in their new book “Arise: Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself.”
Ellen Kershaw , 24, has been going to Zambia since she was 18. She felt drawn to, she says, in the 8th grade, after seeing a tv show. But she didn’t think she could do any good. “There’s plenty of people who spend their entire lives trying to change that country, and what could I do as an 18-year old?! But finally, it almost caused me more anxiety not going than actually getting on a plane and going over there.”
It took her husband a little longer. But he’s made two trips with her now, the first right after their marriage -- they were high school sweethearts – and it’s changed him for the good. “Going to Zambia last year I think was a huge leap of faith for him, and it stretched him in more ways than I’ve ever seen.”
Speaking of stretching, Ellen says the kids hang off the 6-3 pitcher “like he’s a jungle gym.” They know nothing about baseball, the Dodgers, or the Cy Young. “If I played soccer,” he joked, “that would be a different story.”
It might seem counter-intuitive, in a sport like baseball where concentration and total devotion are key, but Clayon and Ellen both say their Africa project, and Kershaw’s challenge, in which he donated $100 for every batter he struck out, made him a better pitcher, because the goal was bigger than baseball.
The two speak easily about serving their God, but they don’t present as evangelical. He was raised Methodist, she Presbyterian. Not the rivival tent types. This seems to be more about what they say it is: giving back, doing what they can. As Ellen says, “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
If we want a power couple running the Dodgers, somebody ought to give the Dodgers to these two.
Watch the Kershaws talk about Africa in this YouTube video:
Hero or villain? Rethinking Charlie Chan with Yunte Huang, author of Chan's "untold story"
Yunte Huang comes to Vroman's Books in Pasadena Friday, September 24, to talk about "Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History." Listen to this extended interview with Off-Ramp host John Rabe. (For more information about the reading, go to vromansbookstore.com.)