John Stephenson at BotCon 2001...

In my recurring quest to find video footage of the late voice actor, John Stephenson, I came across a video last month on YouTube that I have yet to spotlight in a blog entry...but that's being taken care of in this blog. Video surfaced last month of BotCon2001...which is notable, for me at least, as being the edition of that event in which John Stephenson made a rare public appearance. He was part of a three person panel discussing not only their careers in animated cartoons but their time spent on the Transformers series of the 1980s. Michael Bell and Gregg Berger are the other voice artists on the panel. BotCon is the name of the convention celebrating all things Transformers.

If you know your classic Hanna-Barbera history then you'll know that both Michael Bell and John Stephenson worked on the animated series, Super Friends, at different points in that program's history. John was actually part of the first season of that series in the role of Col. Wilcox. He would also lend his voice to a villain, Sculpin, in a second season episode. Michael Bell became a cast member of that series beginning with Season Two in the roles of both Zan and Gleek.

As soon as John begins speaking you should recognize the voice immediately. He used his natural speaking voice in a lot of the cartoons because it lent itself perfectly to characters of authority. He voiced all kinds of policemen, doctors, scientists, and military officials...but he could also deliver evil versions of those professions, too...with just a growl or snarl of the voice. In the opposite extreme he could be silly, too. In Wacky Races he voiced Luke and the forever whining Blubber Bear. He did impressions of Paul Lynde's voice, for example. A lot of internet sites mistakenly credit Paul Lynde as the voice of Mildew Wolf in the 1977 animated series, Scooby's All Star Laff-a-Lympics, but in fact it was John Stephenson voicing that character. The confusion arises from Paul Lynde having originally voiced the character in an animated series called It's The Wolf, a segment of the animated Cattanooga Cats series. Mildew Wolf appears as a co-host on the 1977 Scooby series so I guess a lot of people just assume Paul Lynde voiced the character in that series, too. Several years later John resurrected the Paul Lynde vocal impression for another wolf...this time Wilfred Wolf on Tex Avery's Kwicky Koala series. Tex passed away in 1980 during the development/production of the series and didn't see it hit the airwaves in 1981. Wilfred's catchphrase is "Gotcha!!" whenever he goes to capture the quick-to-vanish koala. Kwicky twitches his ears in order to disappear from Wilfred's clutches. In the Top Cat series John could be heard as the suave Fancy-Fancy as well as Officer Dibble's superior in the police precinct. John's most publicized role is Mr. Slate in The Flintstones. When watching the video keep alert for John's Mel Blanc story, his recollections about voice director Wally Burr, Joe Barbera, and later in the clip John informally re-creates the cries of Blubber Bear while telling a story of his bleeding hand...oh, and John does a roar of a Dinosaur. He referenced a series, not by name, in which he was vocally cast as a Dinosaur and in the clip he demonstrates a roar!

A list of books for and against Trump...

This isn't going to be some kind of political essay of the Trump Administration. It dawned on me one day that this President has had so many books written about him while being a sitting President that I decided to look up some of the book titles that have been released since January 2017...and some that have yet to surface. I'm not providing a definitive list...but to even say that should go a long way at explaining just how many books have been written about the President in a little over 3 years time. Obviously considering that Trump had been in the public eye for decades before running for President meant that most of the books that surfaced in 2017 were speculative...filled with information and often hearsay based on his past but had very little factual information on what a Trump Administration would look like.

Here's a list of books that have or will be released. Some of these books were written by Trump defenders, and for those books I'll feature the author's name, but the rest were written by what I call unhinged liberals on the attack who shall go anonymous. Search on-line stores for the books written by anti-Trump authors if you're interested in purchasing those. As a Trump supporter I find their books offensive which is why I'll provide the titles but not the author's name.

1. Trump Revealed: The Definitive Biography (January 2017)

2. The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (March 2019)

3. Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency (Andrew C. McCarthy; August 2019)

4. United States of Trump (Bill O'Reilly; September 2019)

5. Fear: Trump in the White House (September 2019)

6. The Plot Against the President (Lee Smith; October 2019)

7. Resistance at All Costs: How Trump Haters are Breaking America (Kimberly Strassel; October 2019)

8. Inside Trump's White House (November 2019)

9. Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Destroy Us (Donald Trump, Jr.; November 2019)

10. Revolution: Trump, Washington, and We The People (K.T. McFarland; February 2020)

11. The MAGA Doctrine (Charlie Kirk; March 2020)

12. The Case for Donald Trump (Victor Davis Hanson; March 2020)

13. Hiding in Plain Sight (April 2020)

14. Downfall: The Demise of a President and His Party (April 2020)

15. Donald Trump and His Assault on the Truth (June 2020)

16. The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump (June 2020)

17. The Room Where It Happened (June 2020)

18. Trump and the American Future (Newt Gingrich; June 2020)

19. How Trump Stole 2020 (July 2020)

20. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man (July 2020)

21. Trump on Trial (August 2020)

22. Trump Women (September 2020; re-release of 2018 book, 'Golden Handcuffs')

23. Trump Century (Lou Dobbs; September 2020)

24. Obsession: Inside the Washington Establishment's Never Ending War on Trump (Byron York; September 2020)

I'll stop at 24!! That's just scratching the surface. The point of these books is to fight for or against the Trump Administration. I know there have been books published about presidents while they were in office and of course once they leave office but I don't know if any sitting President has ever been the subject of so many books from all sides of the political spectrum before!!

Newt Gingrich has written a couple of other books about Trump: "Trump vs. China: Facing America's Greatest Threat" (October 2019), "Trump's America: The Truth About Our Nation's Greatest Comeback" (June 2018), and "Understanding Trump" (June 2017).

Red Skelton on RFD-TV...

Me and a Red Skelton VHS

I don't know how long it's been part of their line-up but I happened to be searching my on-screen program guide yesterday evening and seen where The Red Skelton Hour was airing at 7pm on RFD-TV. The episode's description included a title, 'The Fastest Crumb in the West'. I looked up that episode and found that it originally aired September 21, 1965 on CBS. The airing of Red's television series is a rarity...let alone the hour long version...and so with the news that his program is being re-aired on cable/satellite channel, RFD-TV, I thought it only necessary to provide a general overview of Red's career. This by no means is a definitive essay...only a general overview filled with information that you'll more than likely find all over the internet but perhaps not presented in a conversational style which is how I prefer to write. A lot of bloggers simply provide information, bullet points, or images...but I prefer to present my blog entries in a personal/conversational way so it doesn't come across overly technical (unless the topic calls for in-depth/technical information). Red's career path began at the age of 10. He was born July 18, 1913 in Vincennes, Indiana. Now, having been born in a river town, it was only natural for someone with a zeal for entertaining that he would eventually find himself on showboats of that time period. Red's earliest years in 'show business' included not only appearing on showboats, traveling in medicine shows, and reportedly was part of a traveling circus (in later years he was known for his paintings of clowns). His rise into show business found him branching into the burlesque circuit and then switching over, in 1934, to Vaudeville.

The time-line in Red's professional career shown that he established himself in the waning stages of Vaudeville considering that most performers had, by 1934, made the professional leap onto radio. His career as a Vaudeville performer, however, was short-lived due to the fact that radio was quickly replacing Vaudeville as a viable form of entertainment. Red's first forays into radio were in the form of guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio program, The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour, in the fall of 1937. He went on to guest star a second time and then, in November 1937, he guest starred a third time on Rudy's influential program.

Research shows that Red began his film career in 1938 at RKO in a film titled Having Wonderful Time which starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Ginger Rogers. Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, and a host of other established radio/movie stars appeared in it. On the movie poster Red is billed as Richard (Red) Skelton. His film career is largely tied to MGM and he appeared in films as a star, supporting player, or in cameo roles. One of his films is titled The Clown, released January 16, 1953, and it's a dramatic movie. It was reported that early on when Red was doing screen tests in his attempt to get into films that he often had trouble reading dramatic parts due to his natural tendency to want to lighten a mood or be humorous. He eventually became one of the most dramatic performers you'd ever hope to see, if the story called for it, with most of the characters he portrayed in those type of films being sentimental or on the verge of mental or emotional collapse. In his pantomime sketches he was often fond of portraying those kinds of characters and could effectively convey a sense of sadness/tragedy through facial expressions alone. A lot of the films that Red appeared in for MGM fell under light entertainment/musical or broad comedy/slapstick. Some of his films are: I Dood It (1943), The Show-Off (1946), The Fuller Brush Man (1948), Neptune's Daughter (1949), The Yellow Cab Man (1950), and Public Pigeon Number One (1957). Those  particular films came later in his career...after he had established himself as a radio star...but let's back up several years...

Me and Red Skelton VHS collection

Those guest appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio series in 1937 led to his hosting a radio series titled Avalon Time which had originally been hosted by country music singer, Red Foley. There is a lot of conflicting information surrounding the hosting time-line of this series but I'm quoting information I found while researching for this blog entry. On the Radio Spirits WEBSITE for Avalon Time it gives Red's hosting tenure as January 7, 1939 to December 20, 1939. Red's biggest success came later on when he starred on The Raleigh Cigarette Program beginning October 7, 1941 on NBC. He created Clem Kadiddlehopper and Junior on this series. This series featured Red Skelton as it's star until June 6, 1944...Red was drafted into the military! He was in the military for over a year...discharged in September 1945 for medical reasons (he had suffered a nervous breakdown). Red returned to the NBC airwaves in December 1945 as host of The New Raleigh Cigarette Program. The bulk of Red's other characters emerged during this point in his career: Bolivar Shagnasty, Deadeye, San Fernando Red, Cauliflower McPug, and Willie Lump Lump. The good times with the Raleigh company came to an end in 1948 (the usual reason: budgetary concerns) and Red found himself hosting the self-titled Red Skelton Show for Tide, at the time, a relatively brand new detergent company. This series ran until the spring of 1949 on NBC radio. Afterward Red switched networks...joining the CBS radio line-up...following in the footsteps of Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Amos 'n' Andy, and the ventriloquist/dummy duo of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. In the fall of 1949 The Red Skelton Show debuted on CBS with Tide remaining his sponsor until a switch to the Norge company. Red remained on CBS radio until June 25, 1952.

Me and Red Skelton DVDs

In the meantime, though, Red was one of the few radio performers who couldn't wait to get onto television. A lot of his contemporaries eased into a television schedule. Jack Benny, for example, continued his radio program for five years concurrent with his infrequent appearances with early television specials. Jack's final network radio series aired in May 1955...a full five years after debuting on television...but Jack never appeared in a weekly television series until 1960. Some radio performers, notably Fred Allen, attempted television programs but none of them caught on with a viewing audience even though, if you turn off the visual and just listen to the audio, his attempts at hosting television programs sound like his radio programs...but his television legacy is tied to his years as a regular panelist on What's My Line?. Red's television series debuted September 30, 1951 on NBC television...but his radio series was still airing on CBS. The radio series moved back to NBC in the fall of 1952 and Red's network radio career ended on May 26, 1953. The television series, in the meantime, moved to CBS in the fall of 1953 and it became one of the longest running variety/entertainment television shows on the network. It was part of the CBS television schedule until it's abrupt cancellation in the summer of 1970. The network was amidst it's re-programming where a concentrated effort was underway to re-brand the network and attract younger audiences and generate advertising revenue from the urban market...cancelling popular programs whose appeal was determined to be for those over 40, rural, conservative, and more strict with their money. Red went back to NBC and starred in his last regularly scheduled television series during the 1970-1971 season. His 20 year television series came to an end on NBC, ironically, the network he began his professional radio career with.

In quoted interviews from Red in the early '70s and later he often remarked that the CBS cancellation of his series must have had something to do with his political leanings (Republican) and pro-Military positions more than the overall age of his audience. It's been documented that he played to packed college campuses for years after CBS cancelled his show in 1970 and he'd often cite this as a way to show that he had appeal with younger audiences.

Me and Red Skelton VHS tapes

A lot of Red's television shows were never aired in syndication. This lack of syndicated exposure, of course, caused his series to become a 'lost' series to each generation of television viewers. Although a lot of the early television programs that featured former radio stars aren't as heavily played, even on classic TV outlets, Red's show was played even less frequently. Repeats of Jack Benny, by comparison, had a rather lengthy run on local PBS stations as well as the national CBN channel throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Jack's television show is currently airing on niche channel, Antenna TV, as is the television series, Burns and Allen, starring George Burns and Gracie Allen. Red's series had a limited run in repeats in the latter half of the 1990s on PBS...and a lot of his television programs and sketches were becoming increasingly available on VHS home video. As you can see I have a lot of those VHS tapes and I've got several DVDs of his material. However, the release of his programs became infrequent on VHS, DVD, Blu Ray as time went by. The television series is currently airing on the RFD-TV line-up...one of those rare times where his television show is getting reran...but I don't know for how long it'll be on their line-up.

Larry's Country Diner: Quarantine Version...

If you watch much of RFD-TV then you're familiar with the series, Larry's Country Diner. It's been on the air/in production for quite a long time. It's hosted by Larry Black and it features a regular cast of characters in a diner setting. Some of their episodes, prior to COVID-19, were taped inside the Ray Stevens CabaRay whereas most of their episodes are taped on a sound stage in Nashville in a diner setting. There's a small audience that the host and regular cast entertain with one liners and conversational jokes. The audience is served food and beverages. The show prides itself on it's realistic, live feel and each episode closes with the on-screen announcer, Keith Bilbrey, asking viewers to tune in next week "where the camera's keep rolling..." and then the cast, in unison, shouts out "...and we don't care!!". It's their way of saying that you'll see anything and everything, bloopers and all.

On an episode that aired not too long ago one of the guests happened to be Buddy Kalb. The episode was billed as the quarantine version due to Tennessee law prohibiting mass gatherings. The show featured all the cast members on tape from remote locations (most of them from their own house) and the guest, Buddy Kalb, was seated with a guitar inside the recording studio located inside the CabaRay. You can watch the episode HERE. The link takes you to the Facebook Watch-Live page. The show aired on-line and viewers left commentary throughout the episode by way of Country Road TV. I caught the episode when it aired on RFD-TV. Anyway, Buddy Kalb spoke about his career and sang several songs. He is part of the Ray Stevens Music group and has assisted Ray in many endeavors over the decades. He is first and foremost a writer...he either writes or co-writes with other collaborators...or writes songs himself and most of them are recorded by Ray Stevens. In music videos Buddy is often seen as the straight man or the comic foil depending on Ray's performance. Buddy plays the role of "The Blue Cyclone" in the music video of that song. In "Surfin' U.S.S.R." Buddy is seen as the cigar smoking woman from Moscow U.

In the "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" music video, a song Buddy and his wife, Carlene, wrote, Buddy can be seen as Harv Newland. I'd read where his wife, Carlene, is playing the role of Sister Bertha but I thought it was the late Janice Copeland who appeared as Sister Bertha. Buddy appears in the music video for "It's Me Again, Margaret". He's playing the policeman with the binoculars. Buddy's sidekick in that scene is Ray's late brother, John. The woman playing Margaret looks like Sister Bertha...some sources say it's Carlene Kalb but I could swear it's Janice Copeland playing those two roles. Buddy's name on songwriter credits is C.W. Kalb, Jr. One of the recent Ray Stevens music videos featuring Buddy is "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore"...he plays the TSA agent.

Harold Reid: 1939 - 2020

Harold Reid: 1939-2020

A founding member of the superstar group, The Statler Brothers, has recently passed away. Harold Reid, the bass singer of the retired group who also doubled as the group's resident comic, passed away on Friday (April 24th) at the age of 80 from kidney failure. He was born August 21, 1939. If you're not too familiar with the group's history it all started in 1955. The group originally consisted of Harold Reid (bass), Phil Balsley (baritone), Lew DeWitt (tenor), and Joe McDorman (lead vocals). The four members of the group were all natives of Virginia and they called their high school group The Four Star Quartet. They were all born in the late '30s and so by the mid '50s when they formed their gospel group each of them were still teenagers. In 1960 lead vocalist, Joe McDorman, exited the group and in to take his place was Harold's younger brother, Don (born June 5, 1945). The group had by this time changed it's name to The Kingsmen which proved to be short-lived, too. In addition to several other gospel acts with similar names there happened to be a rock music group that emerged called The Kingsmen. Seeking a new name to avoid confusion with other similarly titled gospel acts and from confusion with the mainstream rock music group a third group name was formed: The Statler Brothers. The name was inspired by a brand of tissue paper, Statler. The group made it's initial commercial impact with the line-up consisting of Harold, Phil, Lew, and Don. The group became part of the Johnny Cash touring ensemble for 8 years (1964-1972) and in that time period they established themselves as a country music group. The songs that the group recorded were largely written by Harold and Don as co-writers or were songs that Harold or Don wrote on their own. The group was signed to Columbia Records in 1964 upon the suggestion/recommendation of Johnny Cash.

Lew DeWitt composed the group's first big hit, 1965's "Flowers on the Wall", which went on to win a Grammy. The song is also their only single to land within the Top-40 of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart where it peaked at number four. In the world of pop music The Statler Brothers are routinely cited as a 'one hit wonder' because they only had one single make it into the pop Top-40.

Harold and Don wrote the group's second Grammy winner, "Class of '57", but that came later into their career.

When Johnny Cash hosted his own television show for two seasons, 1969-1971, regular cast members included not only June Carter Cash but The Statler Brothers. Ironically, the year that Johnny's television series debuted, in 1969, the Statler Brothers left Columbia Records for Mercury Records.

Harold, Don, Phil, and Lew

"Bed of Rose's", one of the group's many hits, came from the pen of Harold Reid. This deep and complex story is something you probably wouldn't associate with Harold given his image of being a comic and quick with one-liners but it shows the talent hidden behind his comical reputation. It was the group's first release on Mercury Records. In those earlier Mercury albums the group issued some comical material under the alias of Lester 'Roadhog' Moran and His Cadillac Cowboys. Harold played the lead role of Roadhog in those comedy routines.

They began a lengthy producer-artist relationship with Jerry Kennedy while at Mercury. Harold and Don wrote "Class of '57", which hit the Top-10 on the country chart in 1972. As previously mentioned this song won a Grammy in early 1973 in the category of Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Harold and Don wrote so many of the songs...the group's first number one hit was written by the Reid brothers, "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine", in 1978. One of their greatest recordings came from the pen of Harold and Don, "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?". In that recording Harold sings the lead vocals...and later on he sang the main lead vocals on 1984's "Atlanta Blue", from the pen of Don Reid...but let's back up a couple of years...

The group went through a major change in 1982 when long-time tenor and founding member, Lew DeWitt, retired due to health issues. His replacement, Jimmy Fortune, almost immediately added to the on-going success of the group and within the next several years had written some of the group's most sentimental songs. The group had become known for their close harmonies, comedy, and their nostalgic-themed albums and single releases and while they wrote and recorded a lot of love songs it was not their main avenue...but most of Jimmy's material was rooted in emotional complexities and feelings. The final album to feature Lew DeWitt was 1982's The Legend Goes On. The two hit singles from that album, "Whatever", was written by Harold and Don while "A Child of the Fifties" was written by Don. The first album to feature Jimmy Fortune was 1983's Today...and it is on that album which introduced country music audiences to "Elizabeth", a song from the pen of Jimmy Fortune, who titled it after seeing Elizabeth Taylor on a classic movie...and although the song is not about the movie actress countless country music media publications often say it's a tribute to her. The song was the group's second number one hit. The album also contains the hit recording "Guilty" from the pen of Harold and Don as well as their wonderful version of "Oh Baby Mine". 

The group continued to rack up hit songs and receive numerous awards...the fan voted Music City News Country Awards named The Statler Brothers their Favorite Group well over a dozen times throughout the 1970s and 1980s...dominating that category in other country music awards programs, too. The group began their famous television series in 1991...both Harold and Don were the head writers and it was the highest rated television show on The Nashville Network for it's entire seven year run (1991-1998). The group retired from the road in 2002 and were content to remain out of the spotlight. In 2008 The Statler Brothers were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Tom T. Hall and Emmylou Harris.

Statler Brothers; Emmylou Harris; Tom T. Hall; 2008

The Hall of Fame plaque for The Statler Brothers also includes Lew DeWitt. It was a classy move to include him due to the fact that he was not only a founding member but he was the writer of the song that put the group on the mainstream map, "Flowers on the Wall", and his high tenor was distinct and memorable on all of the Statler recordings through 1982...as was the bass of Harold Reid and the vocalizations of Don Reid and Phil Balsley. Jimmy's addition to the group after Lew retired added to their legacy. The group retained their small town roots throughout their career and from 1970 until 1995 they hosted an annual birthday for America in Staunton, Virginia (their base of operations). The event was officially titled Happy Birthday U.S.A. and in the same year that they hosted what turned out to be their final Independence Day celebration Mercury Records issued a box set career retrospective to celebrate the group's 30th Anniversary as country music artists. The son of Harold Reid as well as the son of Don Reid have been recording and performing show dates for a number of years. The duo's original name was Grandstaff but they have since changed it to Wilson Fairchild.

One of Statler Brothers final hit songs came from the pen of Harold and Don Reid, "Let's Get Started If We're Gonna Break My Heart". It hit in the fall of 1988 and peaked early in 1989 in the Top-20. The group's final Top-10 hit arrived in the summer of 1989 from the pen of Jimmy Fortune, "More Than a Name on a Wall". As their music career began to fade on radio they unexpectedly became television stars as mentioned above. Their television show ran for 7 years and many feel it could have ran even longer but my guess is the group, in the latter stages of their television show, was already thinking about retirement and so they perhaps decided to end the show after it completed the 1997-1998 season for those reasons. The old saying 'always go out on top'. The group, as mentioned, officially retired from the road in 2002. Their Farewell Concert was released in audio format in 2003. In 2010 the Gaither Music Group issued two volumes of gospel recordings from the Statler Brothers and each release reached the Top-20 on the Country Album chart. In 2013 the Gaither company issued a compilation featuring highlights from the Statler's final concert in 2002 and that 2013 release reached the Top-30 on the Country Album chart. It was the group's final charting album.

Here they are collecting one of their many Music City News Country Awards as Vocal Group of the Year. Harold Reid left an incredible mark on gospel and country music and his comedy was infectious and a main attraction in the Statler Brothers performances...on and off the record.

Phil Balsley, Don Reid, Jimmy Fortune, and Harold Reid

The New Scooby Doo Movies: The Almost Complete Collection...

Me and the Scooby Doo Movies; 2020

This DVD consists of 23 episodes of the Saturday morning animated series, The New Scooby Doo Movies, which originally aired in first-run production on CBS from September 9, 1972 until October 27, 1973. The series officially consists of 24 episodes (16 produced in 1972 and 8 produced in 1973) but there wasn't an agreement met with the copyright holders of The Addams Family and so the Scooby Doo episode featuring the characters from The Addams Family aren't included here...which is why the DVD is titled The New Scooby Doo Movies: The (Almost) Complete Collection. I had previously purchased a 2005 DVD release titled The Best of the New Scooby Doo Movies. In that collection there are 15 episodes...at that point in time the rights to the remaining episodes hadn't been cleared. Now fast-forward from 2005 to 2019. On June 4, 2019 this DVD was released. The collection contained the 15 episodes from the 2005 release plus 8 additional episodes that had become cleared by their copyright holders. However, in between the time that the 2005 collection was issued and the spring of 2019, the only hold out was the rights to the episode guest starring The Addams Family. This is only my opinion but I assume the executives in charge of releasing/manufacturing this DVD (Warner Brothers) didn't want to keep the episodes on hold any longer while they awaited a potential change of mind from The Addams Family legal team and so they issued 23 of the 24 episodes in a June 2019 release, The New Scooby Doo Movies: The (Almost) Complete Collection. In case the fans didn't want to re-purchase the 15 episodes already released back in 2005 there was a companion DVD with the newly acquired 8 episodes called The Best of the New Scooby Doo Movies: The Lost Collection. I have the 2005 DVD release and I purchased the 23 episode DVD release last year. I did that because I decided to have nearly all of the episodes from this series housed in one collection...instead of having the 2005 DVD of 15 episodes and a 2019 DVD of 8 episodes.

The purists are furious because it doesn't feature The Addams Family and as a result, infuriating them anymore, the opening title sequence is an alternate version...not the one that originally aired. The audio/vocal track heard in the alternate opening sequence is the same and some of the animated sequences featuring the main characters from the series remain intact from the original 1972-1974 broadcasts but notably missing are the images of the guest stars. As the years went on and copyright ownership constantly changed hanged due to business acquisitions it meant that television reruns of The New Scooby Doo Movies as the 1980s and early 1990s came and went were limited to showing only the episodes that were approved by a legal team representing the celebrities who lent their voice and likeness to the series. Episodes of the series reran in 2 parts rather than air in an hour long format as they did when they originally aired on Saturday mornings in the early '70s. Anyway, by the latter half of 2018 the rights were secured to 8 remaining episodes of the series and so in the summer of 2019 along came this DVD of 23 of the 24 episodes.

Now then...here are the episodes that appear on this 2019 collection:

Disc One:
1. The Ghastly Ghost Town (with The Three Stooges)
2. The Dynamic Scooby Doo Affair (with Batman and Robin)
3. The Frickert Fracas (with Jonathan Winters)
4. Guess Who's Knott Coming To Dinner (with Don Knotts)

Disc Two:
1. A Good Medium is Rare (with Phyllis Diller)
2. Sandy Duncan's Jekyll and Hyde (with Sandy Duncan)
3. The Secret of Shark Island (with Sonny and Cher)
4. The Spooky Fog (with Don Knotts)

Disc Three:
1. The Ghost of Bigfoot (with Laurel and Hardy)
2. The Ghost of the Red Baron (with The Three Stooges)
3. The Ghostly Creep from the Deep (with The Harlem Globetrotters)
4. The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall (with Davy Jones)

Disc Four:
1. The Phantom of the Country Music Hall (with Jerry Reed)
2. The Caped Crusader Caper (with Batman and Robin)
3. The Loch Ness Mess (with The Harlem Globetrotters)
4. The Mystery of Haunted Island (with The Harlem Globetrotters)

Disc Five:
1. The Haunted Showboat (with the cast from Josie and the Pussycats)
2. Mystery in Persia (with the cast from Jeannie)
3. The Spirited Spooked Sports Show (with Tim Conway)
4. The Exterminator (with Don Adams)

Disc Six:
1. The Weird Winds of Winona (with the cast of Speed Buggy)
2. The Haunted Candy Factory (with Cass Elliot)
3. The Haunted Carnival (with Dick Van Dyke)

When you look at those hour long episodes and the wide variety of special guest stars you'll see that some celebrities made multiple vocal appearances. You'll also notice that in some cases Scooby Doo and the gang meet celebrities mostly representative of a by-gone era. The Three Stooges, by 1972, were still hugely popular on television through repeated play of their classic live action short subject films. There were comic book adaptations and animated cartoons depicting The Three Stooges along side the television airings of their Columbia Studios films during the 1960s (they made 190 short subject comedy films for the studio). The Stooges themselves, however, professionally retired in 1970. By this time the third stooge was Joe DeRita, who went by the stage name Curly Joe. The vocalization for Moe Howard was supplied by Pat Harrington, Jr. while Daws Butler supplied the vocals for Larry Fine and Curly Joe. The irony is Daws incorporated a few 'nyuk, nyuk' catchphrases associated with the original Curly (played by Moe's brother) which weren't part of the 'Curly Joe' character. Larry Fine and Moe Howard died in 1975.

Laurel and Hardy are an iconic comical duo and it's safe to assume that in 1972 their likeness and name were still synonymous with classic film comedy, as were The Three Stooges. However, by the time The New Scooby Doo Movies came along in 1972 both of those comic icons had passed away. Stan Laurel, born in 1890, died in 1965 (74 years old) while Oliver Hardy, born in 1892, died in 1957 (65 years old). Nevertheless the iconic comedy duo were still popular and so they, too, made an appearance on this 1972 animated series. The voice of Oliver Hardy was performed by Jim MacGeorge while Stan Laurel's voice was performed by Larry Harmon. The two voice actors had previously provided the vocals for Laurel and Hardy in a syndicated cartoon series which aired during the 1966-1967 season. There were 156 five minute adventures produced. In the 1980s Jim MacGeorge, who visually looks like Stan Laurel, appeared in live action commercials as Laurel along side Chuck McCann as Hardy.

In addition to the episodes guest starring The Three Stooges (2 episodes) and Laurel and Hardy (1 episode) there are guest appearances by characters who had appeared on animated series of their own. The cast of Josie and the Pussycats guest star in an episode. The cast of Speed Buggy guest stars and then there's an episode featuring the cast of Jeannie (Jeannie, Cory, Henry, and Babu). Animated versions of The Harlem Globetrotters had been depicted on television prior to this 1972 Scooby Doo series but the exhibition basketball team known for their tricks and skills hold the record for most appearances on this series...three episodes. The real-life Globetrotters didn't provide their voices for the animated appearances. Scatman Crothers, most notably, provided the voice of Meadowlark Lemon and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson voiced Bobby Joe Mason. Batman and Robin appear as guests in two episodes. Their animated history dates back to 1967 when the Filmation Studio released The Superman/Batman Hour of Adventure. The voice of Batman was supplied by legendary radio and television character actor, Olan Soule. Robin was voiced by disc jockey Casey Kasem...several years before taking on the role of Shaggy in the Scooby Doo cartoons in 1969 and eventually becoming nationally and internationally famous as the host of American Top-40 beginning in 1970. In the two Scooby Doo episodes guest starring Batman and Robin both Olan and Casey reunited as the Caped Crusaders. Ted Knight returned as the voice of Penguin and Joker. Olan and Casey would continue to voice the Dynamic Duo on ABC Television's Super Friends series (produced by Hanna-Barbera) throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the mid 1980s.

The rest of the episodes in the 1972 Scooby series feature the actual celebrities voicing their animated versions. The main vocal performers are Don Messick (Scooby Doo; Sebastian; additional voices); Casey Kasem (Shaggy; Robin; Alexander Cabot II; additional voices); Frank Welker (Fred; additional voices); Nicole Jaffe (Velma); and Heather North (Daphne). This series would mark the final time Nicole Jaffe voiced Velma on a regular basis. She reprised the role several decades later in a direct-to-video animated Scooby film but as far as the television episodes are concerned this 1972 series was her last as Velma. John Stephenson, a vocal legend for Hanna-Barbera, was on hand for this Scooby series providing vocals for an assortment of villains and an occasional good guy.

A modern-day version of this series is the most recent incarnation of the Scooby Doo franchise. That series is called Scooby Doo and Guess Who?. I'm not into modern-day celebrities or contemporary television productions (beyond news and sports programs) and so I've never watched too many episodes of that current Scooby series but my guess is it captures the essence of the 1972 series but places it squarely into modern times.

Let's Slowly Re-Open the Economy...

I've been participating more than usual in on-line forums. I'm in-between jobs at the moment and so it's given me a lot of time to actively participate in those on-line news articles. If you're not familiar with what I'm referring to I'll explain: If you happen to have Yahoo as your home page then you'll see articles show up about COVID-19 and if you have the news/politics section open then you're going to see a lot of articles posted on Yahoo that originated, mostly, from left-wing blog sites. There's always a comment section where liberals dominate the conversation...and a lot of this liberal domination stems from the fact that the articles themselves have a liberal slant and therefore it welcomes liberal commentary to reinforce whatever narrative the article is pushing. Since Yahoo is my home page I'm only familiar with the news/political articles that are posted there. I'm sure other internet companies are heavily into the practice of promoting liberal viewpoints, too. Anyway, since I've had the free time, I've been actively commenting about the content/quality of the articles I'm reading and replying to other people's comments...way more than I usually would. The news articles that are shared on Yahoo come from a wide variety of liberal and often socialist blog sites. Once in a great while there will be an article posted on Yahoo originating from a conservative blog page but that's definitely a rarity and not the norm. One of the articles posted on Yahoo that I recently read and commented on comes from the liberal organization, The Guardian. The name of the article is: 'Operation reopen America: Are We About to Witness a second Historic Failure of leadership from Trump?'. If you call those organizations out on their liberal bias they deny any political bias yet with the title of an article being so one-sided you can easily see why the organization is accused of promoting liberal viewpoints. The Daily Beast, The New York Times, and The Huff Post - all heavily liberal in their coverage - are a couple of other outlets from which Yahoo routinely gathers their news articles from. The article I made mention of by The Guardian is where my most recent remark can be found. I was making the argument that liberals don't really want to see a slow re-open of the economy, and have it show any glimmer of success, for fear of how positive it could reflect on Trump. Liberals, more than likely, prefer to remain under house arrest and have limited movement in society...not because they're entirely concerned with the nation's health but because it's a negative they can attach to the President...here's my comment in it's entirety:

"It's dissolved into pure politics with the liberals...not that it wasn't about politics from the start...but they're nervous about a slow re-opening of the economy. It isn't because they're completely and totally concerned about the nation's health...it's because if there's even a glimmer of an economical rebound and a broad showing across the country of COVID-19 hot spots diminishing it'll be a winner for the President in the eyes of a general public who are not entirely fixated on politics 24/7. If liberals can't control the conversation it's a lost cause for them. To back up my remark about liberals shifting into politics above everything else: when it comes to the virus, mark my words, for every economical re-bound that makes the news you're going to see liberal organizations and news outlets counter those positive images and show people that contracted the COVID-19 virus. In other words liberals will progress into the exploitation of COVID-19 patients for political benefit.".

In another tab/window I refreshed the Yahoo news article and seen that, as of this writing, my comment over there received 76 thumbs up ratings and 66 thumbs down ratings and there's 16 replies. I don't engage in on-line flame wars, though. I say how I feel, post the comment, and move on. I don't allow myself to get baited into arguments.

I'd never share links to those liberally slanted news articles for a number of reasons. The main reason is I don't want to provide a link to articles whose presentation and view go against my own viewpoints but I also don't want to provide a link containing flame wars of which I'm no fan of. However, you can read about the Federal plan, Opening Up America Again, when you click this LINK. The target date is set for May 1st. The image below is just an image. It isn't a link to a news story.

Trump Daily Briefing; April 2020

Earlier in the day I wrote a remark in an article posted on Yahoo called 'Trump is an epic troll whose Twitter use is dangerous amid Coronavirus, Kara Swisher says'. The article was written by a guy named Max Zahn. The article features the author's interview with a liberal businesswoman and it's filled with so many predictable comments. She was making the argument that it's unfair that Trump has nearly 80 million Twitter followers. Her reasoning that it's "dangerous" is based on his ability to successfully reach millions upon millions of people on social media...when a lot of the liberal news outlets have resorted to not airing his daily COVID-19 briefings. The liberal news outlets, more or less, stopped airing the briefings entirely or they only air bits and pieces of them, because they see the briefings as campaign speeches. Imagine if news outlets that are seen as conservative would have done that when it came to Obama's speeches. You'd have Obama supporters crying 'racism' and all kinds of other things if a news network dared to skip anything Obama was holding a press conference about. 

Anyway, here's my remark/comment about the Max Zahn article...my reaction is directed not at the author of the article but the subject of his interview, Swisher:

"Spare us your liberal whining and complaining. You're furious and enraged because Trump isn't afraid to speak his mind and the overall attitude if someone happens to be offended, so what. The author spends an entire article propping up liberal propaganda, griping about how Trump chooses to use social media, and because his Twitter account has nearly 80 million followers he's able to put his messages directly to the people without the blatant liberal editorializing that goes on whenever an on-line liberal organization or liberal cable TV channel airs something he's said. The liberal news outlets just can't stand it because his commentary and messages are reaching the people...those liberal television channels thought they were being clever when they stopped airing his press briefings in their entirety. The media conglomerates hadn't had the ability to control and shape a person's viewpoint since social media came along...Trump is more or less the only President that's actively used the tools of social media to his advantage and so his critics want to cry 'no fair'. Once you read further into the article, if you have the stomach for it, you'll see a rehashing of the story about those who mistakenly took fish aquarium cleaner due to it's name being similar to the anti-malaria drug. Also, you'll see Swisher's lavish praise of the far left radical nut Ocasio-Cortez. In Swisher's own words: "She's fantastic.". That statement is sickening enough but Swisher goes on to say: "She's a more call and response kind of person; she speaks internet — you know, she speaks Twitter."."

I could provide more of my comments but I only chose to share a couple of them. This is the kind of thing that goes on day to day in the age of the internet. A news article pops up on someone's news feed and from there, if so inclined, a person reads the story and posts their comment...and most begin a flame-war of personal insults that go back and fourth.

Joe Diffie: 1958-2020

The news broke earlier today that country music artist, Joe Diffie, has passed away at age 61 from the COVID-19 virus. He had released a statement just this past Friday (March 27th) that he had tested positive for the virus but this is the first case that I'm aware of where contraction of the virus resulted in death only several days later. It doesn't follow the pattern that's been happening around the country or around the world...and I'm hoping more news surfaces. It's puzzling, to me at least, how quick it happened from testing positive and then passing away days later. I'm also sure underlying issues played a factor...

I first heard of Joe by way of a quirky music video that used to play on The Nashville Network in the early 1990s. I loved the video...I've always had appreciation for songs that injected comedy or humor into their stories...and the music video for "If The Devil Danced in Empty Pockets" was certainly memorable. I wasn't aware that he'd released another hit prior to that one...but that's the song that introduced me to Joe Diffie's music. His first hit, "Home", arrived late in 1990 and it hit number one. He is one of the very few country music artists to have their major label debut single peak at the top of the chart. Joe co-wrote numerous songs and a number of them were released as singles during his career. His songwriting, in my opinion, was under-rated. I'm always finding out that he helped write songs that I'd heard for years. One of those happened to be the Holly Dunn smash hit in 1989, "There Goes My Heart Again". Joe was also a co-writer of "I'm the Only Thing I'll Hold Against You" which appeared on Conway Twitty's final studio album, Final Touches, in 1993.

In 1993 Joe Diffie became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Some could argue that 1993 was his peak year even though none of his releases that year hit number one. It's arguable because a couple of the singles he issued that year dominated 1990's country radio and could still be heard as re-currents well into the next decade: "Honky Tonk Attitude", "John Deere Green", the mega-hit "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox", and in late 1993/early 1994 the ballad "In My Own Backyard". However, later on in 1994, Joe had his biggest hit single...the novelty "Pickup Man" which hit number one and remained there for four weeks. This was a follow-up to "Third Rock from the Sun" which had also hit number one. So, there you go, he had two back-to-back number one hits in 1994 and so it's arguable that 1994 was his commercial peak. In 1995 he had his last number one, "Bigger Than the Beatles".

In his career he sent 17 singles into the Top-10 of the Country charts during the years of 1990 through 2001; of those 17 singles 5 of them went to number one. In addition to those singles he also enjoyed 11 additional 'Top-40' Country hits for an overall total of 38 singles that reached that portion of the Country music chart. He sold millions of records. He had several other singles releases that peaked outside the Country Top-40 during their promotional stage and from unsolicited airplay. He was one of those artists that didn't stir the pot or rock the boat that much...controversy was really never part of his career.

His music was championed by a lot of country music fans of all age groups and even though country airplay playlists have gotten so tight over the decades, and the airplay hits dried up, Joe had a solid packed itinerary of tour dates scheduled for 2020....prior to the COVID-19 pandemic upending normalcy as we knew it causing nearly all entertainment venues to close down (the Grand Ole Opry remains open to the performers, announcers, and production assistants because of it being a weekly radio show but the public isn't allowed to attend the performances). There were so many concerts that were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down large gatherings of people and then the news broke on Friday that Joe tested positive for the virus...and now it's two days later and he's gone at 61.

Joe Diffie: 1958-2020

Jan Howard: 1929-2020...

I came across an alert on one of the social media sites I visit concerning the recent passing of country music singer Jan Howard. If you're a dedicated fan of classic country music or if you call yourself a hardcore fan of all things Grand Ole Opry then you should already know of Jan Howard. Once married to songwriter Harlan Howard the two later divorced but she retained the last name in her professional career. She had a lengthy career as an artist/performer with the bulk of her commercial impact largely confined to the 1960s and early 1970s. She had several solo hit recordings but is much more known through her association with country music singer/songwriter, Bill Anderson. Her albums sold well...10 of her albums hit the Country chart with 9 of them reaching the Top-40...4 of those cracked the Top-10. Between the years of 1962 to 1970 she sent 12 singles into the Country Top-40; the biggest single release being "Evil on Your Mind", hitting the Top-10 in 1966. This was followed by another Top-10, "Bad Seed", the same year. She had her share of awards and nominations for solo recordings and for her duets with Bill Anderson.

Jan, at the start of the decade, at a Top-40 country hit with Wynn Stewart on a duet called "Wrong Company" in 1960. Her famed duets with Bill Anderson began in 1965. This is the same year that Bill began his long running syndicated television show. The Bill Anderson Show aired in syndication for 9 years...it's final season 1974. It is one of several syndicated country music television programs that used to fill the weekend airwaves and Jan was one of the show's regular performers for most of it's run. Their first duet album hit early in 1968 titled For Loving You and the lone single release was the title track which hit Number One on the Country chart in the latter half of 1967. Their next duet single arrived nearly two years later in the fall of 1969, "If It's All the Same To You", which hit the runner-up spot on the Country chart. Their album of the same name featured their first duet release from 1965, "Time Out", and another 1965 hit duet, "I Know You're Married But I Love You Still". In 1970-1971 the duo had two more Top-10 hits...beginning with "Someday We'll Be Together" and then in 1971, "Dis-Satisfied". Those last two releases come from the album, Bill and Jan (or Jan and Bill). She and Bill released one more album together...a gospel release in 1972 titled Singing His Praise.

In between her duets with Bill she continued releasing solo recordings...one of the most personal and hard to listen to given how emotional it is came along in 1968 titled "My Son". I knew of some of the personal hardships and emotional pains she went through in her life but after reading that she passed away I decided to look deeper and found so much more. I'm not going to re-post all of the things I discovered in my mini-research...I'm leaving that up to you readers to discover for yourselves. In one of her last appearances (which aired during the PBS documentary, Country Music, from Ken Burns) she was asked about the song and about the anti-war protests going on around the time that the single was issued. She's quoted in a lot of on-line sites as to what she'd do if another anti-war person rang her doorbell again asking to support their cause. The protesters were wanting to use her song to show the risks of war and based upon her commentary in that documentary she wasn't going to have any part of their anti-war sentiments. She wrote the song...one of several songs she wrote during her career. She and Bill Anderson wrote "I Never Once Stopped Loving You", a massive hit for Connie Smith. The two also wrote their "Dis-Satisfied" duet. She wrote Bill's hit, "Love is a Sometimes Thing". The Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells, had a hit with Jan Howard's composition, "It's All Over but the Crying". Jan and Bill professionally parted ways not long after the success of "Dis-Satisfied". She also stepped away from her appearances on his television show.

Jan had become a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1971 and could be found appearing there on many Saturday and later, Friday, nights for the next 30 plus years. She was heard most often in the half hour portions hosted by Bill Anderson. It gave the two an opportunity to perform any number of their duets together. As the years went on she became part of an inner circle of female Opry members collectively referred to as the Grand Ladies of the Grand Ole Opry. It's arguable as to who fit into that distinctive collection but it was more or less the female Opry members who appeared regularly or semi-regularly every weekend: Wilma Lee Cooper, Minnie Pearl, Jean Sheppard, Jan Howard, Jeannie Seely, Connie Smith, Skeeter Davis, and Jeannie Pruett. Some may argue some of those weren't officially referred to as a 'Grand Lady' of the Opry but as far as my memory goes I recall all of them at one time or another being billed as a 'Grand Lady' many times over the years during their Opry appearances.

Some trivia is Jan was the female voice heard on the Johnny Cash hit, "Daddy Sang Bass". A lot of us, including myself, assumed it to be June Carter...but up until several years ago I didn't know Jan Howard was the one singing the line "Mama sang tenor...". The Statler Brothers are also on that record, too. I have not seen any details about visitation, funeral, or any of that kind of thing. I'm sure the Opry website and on-line sites centered around classic country music will have in depth information as the hours and days go by. The news broke only a couple of hours ago.

Jan Howard: 1929-2020

Kenny Rogers: 1938-2020

The news broke earlier this morning that legendary recording artist, Kenny Rogers, passed away yesterday night, March 20th. Born August 21, 1938 in Houston, Texas he was 81.

Long before I knew of his pop/rock career I identified him as a country singer. "Lucille" was the first recording of his that I'd heard in the early 1980s as a kid. I have several CDs by him of hit songs. Some of my favorites are "Coward of the County", "Buried Treasure", "The Gambler", "Lucille", "Crazy", "20 Years Ago", "Through the Years", and his duets with Dolly Parton "Islands in the Stream", "Love is Strange", and their Christmas song, "Bells". He and Ronnie Milsap recorded a spectacular duet, "Make No Mistake, She's Mine". Kenny teamed up with Wynonna Judd and recorded a song that often gets played during the Christmas season, "Mary, Did You Know?". Again, those recordings are just some of my favorites. I could easily triple the amount of songs. You can read a memorial article by clicking HERE. You can leave commentary here about Kenny or on the site I provided a link to. The very first Kenny Rogers song I remember hearing as a kid in the early 1980s was "Lucille". Later on "Islands in the Stream" with Dolly instantly became a favorite of mine. It was the first 45rpm single that I remember being purchased at a retail store...my grandparent's purchased the single at a local store, Gold Circle.

Kenny, as I mentioned, had a lengthy career in pop and rock music before he made the change to country music in the mid 1970s. In the early '60s he was a member of a group called The New Christy Minstrels. His most popular affiliation with pop music came with his membership with the First Edition...he eventually become the band's headliner on records and in concert. Their most popular recordings were "Just Dropped In to See What Condition my Condition Was In", "Reuben James", and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town". Those two recordings hit in the late '60s. After making the move to country music in the mid '70s it took several releases before "Lucille" came along. Once that became a hit he more or less became a superstar in country music and within the next five years had racked up more hit singles and awards and had sold more records than at any time in his career. His music was also crossing over to pop and Adult-Contemporary radio formats with regularity. 

His trophy case is lined with awards from every major and fan-voted organization from the Country Music Association (CMA) to Music City News. In the realm of country music media the 'big award' is often the nickname for the CMA Entertainer of the Year award. Kenny didn't win Entertainer of the Year through the CMA organization...but he did win Entertainer of the Year from the Academy of Country Music (ACM) in 1978. He was named CMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 1979 and his album, The Gambler, was named CMA Album of the Year. He and Dottie West were named CMA Vocal Duo of the Year in 1979. The bulk of his awards come from the cross-genre organization, American Music Awards (AMA). His country singles were crossing over with such frequency that the AMA named him their Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist in 1981. He won a Grammy for "The Gambler" and later he and Ronnie Milsap won a Grammy for their duet, "Make No Mistake, She's Mine".

His duet recordings with Dottie, some music historians have said, helped a lot of skeptical country disc jockeys and fans, in general, to accept Kenny as a country singer. He would have several other duet partners in his career...he had hits with Sheena Easton as well as Kim Carnes...later on he recorded a duet with Ronnie Milsap and also recorded with Wynonna Judd, Gladys Knight, Don Henley, and others. He was part of a trio recording in 1984, "What About Me?". The two artists joining him were Kim Carnes and James Ingram. That single was a smash hit on Adult-Contemporary radio stations in America and Canada. The 1980 album, Greatest Hits, was another international smash album. It contained, at the time, a brand new song that became a monster hit throughout the world, "Lady", from the pen of his record producer, Lionel Richie. The single reached number one Country for one week but spent six weeks at number one Pop. The album also contained "Love The World Away", which had previously been featured on the soundtrack album of Urban Cowboy. It's appearance on Greatest Hits along side "Lady" and his recent duet hit with Kim Carnes, "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer", helped this particular album sell millions upon millions of copies worldwide. The fact that is also contained "Lucille" and "The Gambler", too, only added to the sales. The album has sold more than 13,000,000 copies worldwide. The success of "The Gambler" provided Kenny with an unofficial nickname among music fans...the song would eventually spawn a series of television movies starring Kenny as the gambler, Brady Hawkes. Kenny starred in five television movies based on "The Gambler" between the years 1980 and 1994. His acting career wasn't limited to this series of television movies. He starred in several others: Coward of the County (1981), Six Pack (1982), Wild Horses (1985), Rio Diablo (1993), and a couple of films where he played a character named MacShayne... MacShayne: Winner Take All (1994) and MacShayne: Roll of the Dice (1994).

Career Achievement Awards are given to performers in the latter half of their career to recognize their overall contributions. The first such award/recognition for Kenny Rogers arrived in 2000. The Nashville Network Awards (TNN) presented him with their Career Achievement award. It was the equivalent of the Music City News Living Legend Award. In 2003 an organization called The International Entertainers Buyers Association presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2007 the music publisher, ASCAP, presented Kenny with their Golden Note Award. In 2009 he was part of a group of entertainers that were presented a Cliffie Stone Award at the ACM Awards. The other recipients that year were Jerry Reed, Hank Williams Jr., and Randy Travis. In 2010 Kenny received an American Eagle Award. In 2013 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The same year he was presented with a newly established honor, The Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was created by the CMA and named for it's first recipient, Willie Nelson, in 2012. Kenny received this award in 2013. Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and Kris Kristofferson have since been recipients of this award. In 2017 Kenny was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. He had been on a Farewell Tour for a couple of years but later in the tour health issues caused him to cancel all remaining concert dates. His last concert took place in Nashville,TN on October 25, 2017 but he had been scheduled to appear overseas, as well, in 2018 prior to the early 2018 announcement that the upcoming concerts were cancelled due to health reasons. The name of that farewell tour was The Gambler's Last Deal. I don't have any information on the cause of death or exactly what medical ailments he was going through in his final years. The official statement is he passed away from natural causes under the care of Hospice on March 20, 2020 at the age of 81.

Kenny Rogers: August 21, 1938 - March 20, 2020

Scooby Doo and the Mysteriously Missing Eight...

1976 Scooby Doo episodes

I've written about it before and I'm writing about it again. Why haven't the mysteriously missing eight episodes of The Scooby Doo Show ever been released properly on a DVD? I'm referring to the eight episodes that aired in 1977 as part of the Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics series. There have been a few 1977 episodes that have appeared as bonus extras and on thematic DVD releases but there's not been a DVD release of those 8 episodes in one collection. It remains a mystery as to why not. The Scooby Doo Show is the syndicated title for the 40 episodes of the series that originally aired between 1976 and 1978. In their original run the first 16 episodes aired on the 1976-1977 series, The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Adventure Hour. The second 8 episodes aired in 1977 as a segment of Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics. The final 16 episodes aired in 1978 and were split between two programs: Scooby Doo, Where Are You? and Scooby's All-Stars. The first 9 episodes from 1978 aired under the title of the franchise's debut series in 1969 complete with the original 1969 opening and closing sequence. The remaining 7 episodes aired as a segment on Scooby's All-Stars. When the 1978 episodes were issued on DVD the manufacturers referred to those episodes as Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Season Three because, as mentioned, when the first 9 episodes originally aired in 1978 the opening title sequence from 1969 was used. In syndication all 40 episodes air under the title, The Scooby Doo Show. It's the opening sequence that features villains from the 1976 episodes, show's Scooby water skiing, and slapping paws with Scooby Dum.

1978 Scooby Doo episodes

This particular DVD release...all these years later...continues to irritate collectors/fans...not because of the content or anything but because it's titled Season Three of a series that didn't officially have a third season. Scooby Doo, Where Are You? originally aired on CBS for two seasons, 1969-1971. This was followed by The All-New Scooby Doo Movies, also on CBS, for a two season run. After a repeat period of several seasons CBS dropped the show from it's Saturday morning line-up and it was immediately purchased by ABC. The first Scooby series for ABC was a program which introduced a couple of new characters...and the title of the show reflected that fact. The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Adventure Hour premiered on ABC in 1976...and as you can see Scooby shared equal billing with this newcomer. Dynomutt was a robotic canine and sidekick of Big City superhero, Blue Falcon. The robotic dog was referred to most often as Dog Wonder. On a few episodes of Dynomutt's series there were guest appearances by Scooby and the Mystery gang (Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma). In 1977 the historic 2 hour program, Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, debuted. Historic for the fact that it was the first Saturday morning cartoon with a 2 hour running time and it was filled with series of supporting segments. The main cartoon was Laff-a-Lympics, a series which parodied the Olympics and Battle of the Network Stars with elements of Wide World of Sports thrown in. Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf acted as hosts/commentators as three teams: Scooby Doobies, Yogi Yahooies, and the Really Rottens competed for points and the ultimate prize: The Laff-a-Lympics Gold Medal. 8 all-new episodes of Scooby Doo aired as a segment of this 1977 series in addition to reruns of the 16 that aired in 1976. Those 8 all-new episodes are as follows:

1. The Curse of Viking Like
2. Vampire Bats and Scaredy Cats
3. Hang in There, Scooby Doo
4. The Creepy Heap from the Deep
5. The Chiller Diller Movie Thriller
6. The Spooky Case of the Grand Prix Race
7. The Ozark Witch Switch
8. Creepy Cruise

Those eight episodes have never appeared together in any DVD release, to date. Episodes 2, 3, and 7 have made appearances on select compilation DVD releases of the Scooby series but never has their been an official DVD release spotlighting all 8 episodes. It would be great if someday all 40 episodes produced from 1976 to 1978 would become available in one multi-disc DVD release.

In 1978 Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics was shortened from 2 hours to 90 minutes and given a new title, Scooby's All-Stars. In the meantime all-new Scooby Doo episodes had been produced and were airing on Saturday morning under the 1969 title of Scooby Doo, Where Are You?. When ABC removed that series from the line-up after the airing of 9 all-new Scooby episodes the remaining 7 episodes from 1978 aired as a segment of Scooby's All-Stars. Those 1978 episodes, as mentioned earlier, make up the content of the DVD titled Season Three of Scooby Doo, Where Are You?. The voice cast was large and varied when you take the time to look at all three seasons of Scooby Doo cartoons that were produced during 1976, 1977, and 1978 but the main vocal cast were: Don Messick as Scooby, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Fred, Heather North as Daphne, Pat Stevens as Velma, and John Stephenson was often heard as the villains, scientists, policemen, and other supporting roles. Series regulars Don Messick, Casey Kasem, and Frank Welker could also be heard in supporting roles, too. In the 1976 Dynomutt series you had Gary Owens as Blue Falcon, Frank Welker as Dynomutt, Larry McCormick as the Mayor, and Ron Feinberg as Focus One. John Stephenson, Don Messick, Casey Kasem, and Frank Welker could be heard in an assortment of supporting roles as cops, doctors, or criminals. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera and based on characters created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.

The Senate Impeachment Trial...Final Day...2/5/20

Millions upon millions of people seen the disgusting display of contempt, anger, and childish antics of Nancy Pelosi at the end of President Trump's State of the Union speech last night (a speech that's referred to by it's acronym of SOTU). As the address came to a close Pelosi felt the need to stand up, rip up every sheet of paper containing the SOTU address, and leave it sitting as she walked off. I'm not going to embed a video focusing exclusively on her sickening temper tantrum but instead I'm going to embed a clip of Vice President Mike Pence reacting to her unhinged behavior plus his reactions to other highlights of the SOTU speech. In an interview with Fox and Friends earlier this morning here's what the Vice President had to say...



In the video clip below from the SOTU address uploaded on a YouTube page named Bloomberg Politics, ironic that one of the Democrat candidates running for President in 2020 is Michael Bloomberg, the President addresses the American people directly with words that Democrats do not wish to hear. They remain seated as he declares that socialism isn't going to take over America's healthcare industry and that it's wrong to force America's tax payers to pay the bill for illegal immigrants. It was a revealing moment among other revealing moments...the Democrats didn't even have the decency to stand up and applaud the President's stance on socialism in an effort to even appear that they view socialism as evil, too. Instead they remain seated...revealing to all that they believe in socialism and absolute Government control of the people. Throughout the clip you'll hear groaning from the Democrats when he picks apart the flaws in Government-run healthcare, also known, as Healthcare for All/Obamacare. You can see for yourselves...



As I wrote on a social media site earlier this morning in response to the above video clip...

It doesn't get any more clearer than that! It's a perfect illustration that the Democrats support the ideals of socialism and absolute Government control of the people even though Bernie Sanders is the only one that admits to being Socialist. Why would any Democrat remain seated upon hearing that socialism isn't going to be mainstreamed and take over the healthcare industry? It's a rhetorical question of course.

Sean Hannity interviewed Lindsey Graham and this interview is shorter than the one featuring the Vice President. Graham reacts to the SOTU, the boycotts of it, and Pelosi's temper tantrum...



In this last video clip we see Representative Steve Scalise in an interview with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network and he reacts to the SOTU, the Pelosi tantrum, and the Democrats being unwilling to work with the President on practically anything due to their animosity, hatred, and vendetta against him for winning the 2016 election through the Electoral College (a representative of the country as a whole) rather than a popular vote (a skewed representation which favors heavier populated pockets of the country).



Now then, on this final day of the Senate Impeachment Trial of President Trump, let's remind ourselves that the vote is scheduled to begin at 4pm Eastern. I'll be glued to the television around 3:30pm and beyond. In closing I want to post an image of the 2016 election map. It shows the areas that voted for Trump (Red) and the areas that voted for Clinton (Blue). Perhaps this image will show you just why it's important to continue electing the Presidents through the Electoral College rather than through a popular vote. Look at the map below and see all of the area for Trump...and then look at Clinton's supporters. If we were to elect by popular vote Clinton would've won in spite of her not being truly popular across the entire country as this map clearly shows.

Thank You U.S. Senate!

I went through the archives here and found out that the last blog entry I posted here centering around a political point of view was during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh. As I point out in my blog heading I mainly discuss animated cartoons, television programs, and some politics, too. This is one of those times where political points of view takes center stage. I've been holding back writing a blog entry surrounding the impeachment of President Trump and the current events surrounding it in the Senate and instead I've been venting my frustrations on politically driven social media sites. However, at some point or another, those social media sites are more than likely going to be archived themselves and there won't be public access to their content and so I'm taking samples of commentary I've written and pasting them in this blog entry for posterity.

Thank you, Senate! Why? I'm thanking you for doing your job for not allowing the House Democrats to control the upper chamber of Congress.

There was an article that came across my home page this morning quoting the disgraceful television personality, Joe Scarborough, where he proclaims that Republicans will pay a price at the ballot box for not allowing witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial. In the comments section I posted this to the social media site:

To even quote or feature a story on this ass is ridiculous. The Republicans aren't going to pay any political price at a ballot box in November. The House rushed to Impeach and then wanted to control the Senate's job by requesting more witnesses. Also, ask yourselves this question: how come the Democrats feel more witnesses were going to matter anyhow? The case they brought to the Senate was mired in hearsay, speculation, theory, and psychosis of the President...no real evidence of anything rising to the level of impeachment was brought forth but yet the House Democrats and Senate Democrats demand more witnesses!?!

A little more than half an hour ago a news article was shared by one of my internet friends and it appeared on one of the social media sites I belong to. It was an article posted on the CBS News website with the opinionated headline: "Senate rejects new witnesses in Trump impeachment trial; Paving the way for acquittal." Take a look at that headline for a second or two and read my reply to the CBS News website:

It's sick the way the news media is playing the result. "Paving the way for acquittal". Are they serious? How would they know that more witnesses would cause any Republican to break off with the Democrats? I'm glad the Republicans followed impeachment precedent and didn't allow any witnesses. The House Democrats failed to make a strong case but wanted to use the Senate and it's Republican majority to make the House's case for them and that's not the way it works. In the end the voters are going to see this as a farce and reward the Republicans with victories. I don't really believe those who voted for Trump in 2016 are going to turn an about face because there wasn't more witnesses brought in for a sham of an impeachment process orchestrated by House Democrats. If anything the voters should make Democrats who are up for re-election and those that are on the ballot for the first time pay for the waste of time that's taken place with the endless investigations and hearings and impeachment. 

The very nature of the CBS News headline was to plant seeds of unfairness and obstruction of the process which are seeds that the sleazy Senator from New York had already planted in his holier-than-thou press conference several days ago...looking more like a dictatorial tyrant lecturing Senate Republicans and the American public that it'll be an unfair process if witnesses aren't called. He's such a cry baby in my opinion. In my reply I pointed out that the House and the Senate have separate duties during an impeachment process and everyone in Congress and the public, in general, should know this without being told. The House is suppose to call witnesses and offer documents and all other evidence to show grounds for impeachment and then the Senate is suppose to put on a trial and include all the 'evidence' from the House of Representatives. However, as millions of people are very well aware, the House Democrats didn't want to do that. They wanted to rush an impeachment through the process and they denied the Republicans any real chance of having a say in the process. After the impeachment it moved to the Senate. The select group from the House recognized in the Senate's trial as House Managers brought their flimsy case to the Senate...but then the Senate Democrats began screaming for more witnesses. One Democrat was even quoted as saying "we can't allow the voters to make this decision". That quote should be lifted up so it doesn't fade into obscurity as it illustrates perfectly how the Democrats view the American voters, in general. The Democrats always take the angle that if their side loses then there's some sort of obstruction at play or some kind of nefarious plot against them...they fail to see a bigger picture.  

In other words they (the Democrats in Congress) don't want to leave it up to the voters in November to make a decision. They (the Democrats in Congress) wanted the President removed from office before the voters got a chance at re-electing him. Can you see how much contempt and hatred the Democrats have toward the election process and the voters? They know how popular Trump truly is with Middle America and with those that voted for him in 2016. The Electoral College enabled his victory because he got the majority of States...meaning a majority of States voted for him which shows a more accurate national sample than a popular vote. In a popular vote all a candidate running for President would need are heavy turn out in heavy populated regions of the country. This is why the Electoral College, and the winning of the most votes in each State, is way more reliable than a a national popular vote. Trump carried 30 States whereas Clinton carried 20 + Washington, D.C. An interesting view of Maine, a State I picked out because Susan Collins is a Senator from that state, the results of 2016 show that Trump won the most counties in that state...however, Clinton won the more heavier populated counties and therefore those higher numbers allowed her to carry Maine in 2016. So, on the State level, a popular vote will allow you to carry that State in a national election and, barring no electoral defections, the candidate with the most votes per State receives the number of Electoral votes that go along with that State. This is why every State is important in a national election. 

But, the bottom line is, Thank You, Senate! All that is left to do is a final vote in the Senate of whether Trump should or shouldn't be removed from office. I expect a circus and more political chaos to take place from now until November. The seething, defeated Democrats aren't going to shake hands with the Republicans and focus on the country anytime soon...it would be a miracle if they did...but I don't see that happening.