Captain Kangaroo goes to war & more lies
After receiving another breaking news flash about Bob Keeshan and Lee Marvin in a recent e-mail, the time is ripe to reprint a story published many moons ago. I have updated it somewhat.
By Steve Crum
One of my favorite urban legends is the oft told “fact” of an alligator lurking beneath New York City. The gator, the story goes, was originally a baby reptile flushed down someone’s toilet. It not only survived, but grew to enormity. A great tale is this, in fact the basis of the 1980 schlock flick Alligator. But it is all hooey, a croc(k), per se.
There are hundreds of such urban legends–fabricated stories that have survived their way into oral history via our gossiping society–these days spread at light speed through the Internet, iPods, e-mails, cell phones, and so on. If you have a computer, at least once a day you’ll be part of a group mailing of jokes, political spews, and/or words of wisdom and encouragement. Yes, some folks cannot wait to forward that supportive or vindictive (aka political) thought of the day to everyone on their address list. I also receive warm and cuddly animal photos along with Happiness is… captions, which take up a third of my mailbox capacity.
Now and then come those forwarded urban legends. After all is said and immediately erased, it is the latter that stays with me. Urban legends have curious memory power. Currently there are Michael Jackson “legends” being spread. The chestnut about the late Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan and his military relationship with Lee Marvin and other movie and TV “war heroes” is making the rounds again. So imagine this column is an e-mail from your Aunt Clara as a couple of these urban falsehoods are soundly kicked in their respective, fibbing butts.
URBAN LEGEND
Bob Keeshan (TV’s Captain Kangaroo) and Lee Marvin (Oscar winning actor) were decorated war pals. The story goes that years ago on a Johnny Carson Tonight Show, guest Lee Marvin was asked about his war experiences. “Lee,” said Carson, “I’ll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima, and that during the course of the action, you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded.”
Marvin responded, “Yeah, yeah…I got shot square in the ass and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Mount Suribachi. The bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys getting shot hauling you down. But Johnny, at Iwo, I served under the bravest man I ever knew. We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. The dumb bastard actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to moved forward and get the hell off the beach. That sergeant and I have been life long friends.”
Marvin continued: “When they brought me off Suribachi, we passed him and he lit a smoke and passed it to me lying on my belly on the litter. ‘Where’d they get you, Lee?’ he asked. ‘Well Bob, they shot me in the ass and if you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse.’ Johnny, I’m not lying. Sgt. Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew! You now know him as Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo.” THE TRUTH
Both Marvin and Keeshan were indeed Marines during World War II. Marvin was wounded in the buttocks (a severed sciatic nerve), but while in Saipan. Marvin was already shipped back to the United States with a Purple Heart by the time Keeshan was even in basic training (as a reservist, no less). No way could they have crossed paths during the war.
Neither received the Navy Cross. Keeshan entered the Marines just before the war ended, and did not attain the rank of sergeant. There is no evidence, a video even, backing the urban legend.
More recently, another urban legend circulated that the late Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was once a Navy Seal. Still another cites him as an ex-Marine sniper. Both are false.
URBAN LEGEND
Mel Gibson was the real life Man Without a Face, the basis of his 1993 film. Radio commentator (now deceased) Paul Harvey devoted an entire segment to the “rest of the story” concerning director-star Mel Gibson’s role in the film, The Man Without a Face. The e-mails I receive include an introduction saying, “Here is a true story by Paul Harvey. Pass it to anyone who you think would find it interesting and inspiring. You will be surprised who this young man turned out to be. Do not look at the bottom of this letter until you have read it fully.”
The lengthy story, written in Harvey style, tells of a young man whose face was horribly disfigured after being attacked by thugs. Thought to be dead, the young man was taken to the morgue, but luckily moaned before he was admitted. After weeks of prayer, a kindly priest hooked him up with a plastic surgeon who miraculously rebuilt his face.
“The young man,” Harvey said, “is Mel Gibson.”
THE TRUTH
Harvey did not say it. In fact, he never said anything like this about Gibson or anyone in reference to The Man Without a Face. But it makes a good story. I guess.
There is another Mel Gibson falsehood that made the Internet rounds a few years back, claiming Paul Harvey endorsed Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. It is a quite believable and long piece, written in Harvey’s inimitable prose. However, it was actually written by Keith A Fournier, founder of the The Catholic Way web site.
For even more rumor funsters, visit tall tale central on the web at urbanlegends.com.
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For a loving tribute to Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan, please follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeuBimBWU-8
Lee Marvin’s memory is celebrated here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBkTJGWJLYs
IT’S CRUMMY TRIVIA TIME…with ALFRED NEWMAN!
By Steve Crum
Film scores have been a passion of mine since my youth. In those early days before DVD, CD, cassette, iTunes, Netflix, Laser Disc, VHS, Beta, and even 8-track, the only way to ‘bring home’ a favorite movie was via its movie soundtrack music on LP aka 33-1/3 rpm. This was also known as a long playing record, young ones. [Perhaps this piece should begin with ‘Once upon a time…’] My record album collection of movie scores and soundtracks once numbered at nearly 400. I loved movies big time. Still do. A few of my friends in those bygone days spent a lot more than I did by collecting their favorite movies on 16mm film. But that is another story. Here’s your Crummy Trivia regarding classic movie composers:
Who composed the music for both The Robe [1953] and The Greatest Story Ever Told [1965]?
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Answer: ALFRED NEWMAN [1901-70]. His name invariably gets a titter from those who think of the moronic mascot of Mad Magazine, Alfred E. Neuman. Composer Newman was a prolific and brilliant musician who is most associated with 20th Century Fox where he wrote hundreds of film scores over several decades. His last score was 1970’s Airport. Newman is the uncle of pop composer-performer Randy Newman, and brother of Lionel Newman, a composer and conducter in his own right. It doesn’t end there. His other brother Emil, as well as children Thomas, Marie, David, and Grand Nephew Joey [all Newmans] are composers!——————–
O’Connor: the song and dance ends
Following Michael Jackson’s recent death, many tributes noted his dance expertise. Among a handful of all-time great dancers who preceded Michael is Donald O’Connor. When O’Connor died six years ago, I wrote a loving tribute to him in The Kansas City Kansan newspaper, reprinted below. O’Connor could act, sing and tell jokes for sure, but it was dancing that made him special.
By Steve Crum
Think about the most famous dance number in movie history, and Gene Kelly’s splashy Singin’ in the Rain from the musical of like title is immediately visualized. The next most known movie dance number? Certainly Fred Astaire, arguably film’s greatest dancer, had dozens of brilliant set pieces.But it is the dynamic Donald O’Connor, whose 78 year-old heart failed Sept. 27 [2003], we think of after Kelly. In fact, many place O’Connor’s Make ‘Em Laugh solo dance classic equal to or above Kelly’s number. Funny that they were both featured in the same movie–no doubt elevating the 1952 film to its regard as Hollywood’s best musical ever. O’Connor was a taskmaster throughout rehearsals and shooting days of Make ‘Em Laugh. His tumbling, pratfalls, and body slams still appear maniacal, hilarious, and tour de force. O’Connor’s runs up walls, backflips, boards to head, floor twists, and facial contortions have elicited the same audience joy for over half a century.
Film critic Roger Ebert recently wrote of O’Connor’s appearance earlier this year at a University of Illinois showing of Singin’ in the Rain. No surprise that Make ‘Em Laugh still astounded and entertained. A young girl asked O’Connor how he ran up that wall. His deadpan reply: “Experience.” O’Connor spent three days in bed recuperating after the sequence was filmed. Fellow cast member Debbie Reynolds said he was undoubtedly covered in bruises.
Like his vaudevillian parents, Donald O’Connor was always the show-must-go-on trouper. He considered himself a song and dance man throughout his career despite numerous awards and star status. Among those awards was an Emmy back in TV’s truly goldie-oldie days for his star stint on 1954’s Colgate Comedy Hour. That is primarily the reason for his two Hollywood Walk of Fame stars: TV and motion pictures. Although O’Connor danced, sang, and acted on TV through 1983 in guest spots on Frasier, Murder She Wrote and others, he is best showcased in movies. Singin’ in the Rain brought him the Golden Globe as Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical-Comedy, beating out Gene Kelly. Other career highlights include an 11 year-old Donald singing Small Fry with Bing Crosby in 1937’s Sing You Sinners, and the next year portraying Gary Cooper’s title character as a child in Beau Geste.There were O’Connor’s low budget, Universal teen musicals during the 1940’s in which he paired with slapstick dancer Peggy Ryan. Then the mule. His co-starring with Francis the Talking Mule (voiced by Chill Wills) began with 1950’s Francis, and continuing in five more highly popular flicks until 1955’s Francis Joins the Navy. O’Connor always claimed he quit the series when the mule got more fan mail than he did. The movie musical was in full step during the 1950’s, and O’Connor tapped and spun in some of the biggest of the era: Call Me Madam (1953) opposite Ethel Merman, and There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), also with The Merm as well as hoofer Dan Dailey; and 1956’s Anything Goes with Bing Crosby.
His one career disappointment was starring in The Buster Keaton Story (1957), which everyone, including O’Connor and Keaton himself, considered a script travesty that focused almost solely on Keaton’s alcoholism. Year after year, failed efforts to get O’Connor to sppear at the annual Buster Keaton Celebration in Iola, Kansas, were attributed to O’Connor demanding too much money. Maybe he did. But my guess is he declined because of the his embarrassment over The Buster Keaton Story.
A real plus of 1997’s Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau starrer Out to Sea was O’Connor’s inspired casting as Jonathan, a cruise ship dance host. By this time, O’Connor rarely performed, and had ongoing health problems. It was his last movie.
On his deathbed, Donald O’Connor the vaudevillian still made ‘em laugh: “I’d like to thank the Academy for my Lifetime Achievement Award that I will eventually get.”
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Donald O’Connor Trivia Nuggets:
•Played Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer, Detective (1938)
•Co-starred with Jimmy Durante in The Milkman (1950)
•Replaced by Mickey Rooney in the final talking mule movie
•Featured opposite Robin Williams in 1992’s Toys
•Directed a Petticoat Junction TV episode (1963)
•Produced The Milton Berle Show (1948-53)
•Married twice; four children
•Birth name: Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor
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Enjoy Donald O’Connor performing Make ‘Em Laugh by following this link:
Before Michael, Forest Lawn was stars’ final rest stop
By Steve Crum
At this writing, it is unknown exactly where Michael Jackson will be buried. Or entombed. If he is taken, at least temporarily, to one of the Forest Lawn Cemeteries (there are several in the funeral franchise), it will likely be (rumor alert) either the Forest Lawn Glendale or Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. (Could be that Michael will eventually be entombed at Neverland, which would become a West Coast Graceland. Again, speculation.)
Both FL Glendale and Hollywood Hills are known for the stars buried there. Like the dozen or so other Forest Lawns, the cemetery plays to the public, aka tourists. Hey, it’s a business. Group celebrations, meetings and picnics are encouraged (see their websites), and art exhibits and tours occur throughout the year. Yet there is a definite decorum and respect inherent. Photographing celebrity graves and tombs is prohibited, and some stars’ resting places are hidden from public view.
When my family toured Forest Lawn Glendale some 40 years ago, I was impressed with the grandiose statues and fountains. There was an exhibit of a football field-sized The Last Supper painting (reproduction), stretching across the wall of a huge exhibition hall. It might have depicted Christ’s crucifixion. I cannot recall.
At that time, I did not know most of the classic movie stars resting there. But my mother noted W.C. Fields’ impressive crypt.
What I do remember very well is the Forest Lawn coloring book I bought in the gift shop. In it, one could lay crayons to the sculpture and buildings peppering the deep green landscape. (Green was a dominant color in this book.) The cover foretold the fun inside: two children, hand in hand, walk through Forest Lawn’s open gate. Ah, family values. Four decades later, who knows if any of the Forest Lawns even has a gift shop.
The Glenwood Forest Lawn is occupied by grave sites of the following celebs: George Burns & Gracie Allen, Theda Bara, Humphrey Bogart, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Walt Disney, Buddy Ebsen, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, James Stewart, David O. Selznick, Mary Pickford, Red Skelton, Carole Lombard, Chico Marx, Clayton Moore, and Spencer Tracy. And many others.
Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, however, has its own marquee: Gene Autry, Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, Gabby Hayes, Telly Savalas, John Ritter, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Liberace, Ricky Nelson, and more.
Interesting that the great showman/pianist Liberace was featured as a funeral director in 1965’s dark comedy, The Loved One, which lampooned elaborate funerals and Forest Lawn in particular.
Seriously, may Michael Jackson rest in true peace on his body’s journey.
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A 2023 UPDATE: Jackson is interred at Glendale’s Forest Lawn, a fact unknown when I wrote the article. In addition, Jackson’s family were so concerned about his body after his death that they decided to have his coffin entombed in concrete . He was buried in full stage costume, along with items from his life in music including his iconic white gloves.
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Link here to a brief overview of Forest Lawn in Hollywood Hills:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGrqFxBYhk
IT’S CRUMMY TRIVIA TIME…with CECIL B. DEMILLE!
By Steve Crum
CECIL B. DEMILLE [1881-1959], the great director, producer, host of radio’s Lux Radio Theater and screenwriter, is generally considered the man who made Hollywood the film capital of the world. Although he is identified with movie spectacles like The Greatest Show on Earth, The Ten Commandments and Union Pacific, DeMille began as a Broadway actor in 1900.
What does the “B” in his name stand for?
Bluntly, it is Blount.
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