News of the Week: James Bond, Singin’ in the Rain, and There’s More Than One Way to Make a BLT

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar

So I guess we have to talk about the big controversy at Sunday’s Academy Awards. It’s not easy to talk about it, I know. Like you I was shocked when I saw it and thought it must have been some sort of joke, some sort of skit, a bit. But it turned out to be all too real.

I’m talking, of course, about the show’s tribute to James Bond.

There were several things wrong with this “tribute.” One is that the films are celebrating 60 years this year and deserve a little more than just a montage of clips. The second problem is that the montage was introduced by three people we all know are closely associated with the world of 007 … skateboarder Tony Hawk, snowboarder Shaun White, and surfer Kelly Slater.

At least they wore tuxedos?

Honestly, they couldn’t, I don’t know, get the actors who played Bond to introduce the clips? Wouldn’t that have been something, to see Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Daniel Craig, and George Lazenby all together at the Oscars? And if they weren’t available, how about having Dame Judi Dench to do it? She was sitting right near the stage!

And about George Lazenby: They forgot to include him in the list of people who have played Bond! How does that not get noticed by the writers and producers? (At least he made it into the video.)

Really, the whole segment was rather lame. You might even say it was a slap in the face to Bond fans.

Speaking of James Bond …

You could be the next one! Well, probably not, but Amazon (which now owns the Bond franchise along with everything else at MGM) has teamed up with the producers of the films for a new reality show titled 007’s Road to a Million. It’s a reality competition show where contestants travel around the world to Bond filming locations and compete for a million dollars.

The Great Stone Face

There are two new books out about influential silent movie comedian Buster Keaton: Camera Man by Dana Stevens and Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life by James Curtis. CBS Sunday Morning has a terrific feature on the comedian that shows several clips from his films.

Uploaded to YouTube by CBS Sunday Morning

Headline of the Week

“Escaped Donkey Surrenders to Police Officer’s Mustache in California”

RIP Taylor Hawkins, Steve Wilhite, Scoey Mitchell, Marvin J. Chomsky, Joan Joyce, Pepper Martin, John Roach, Lawrence Dane, and Jeff Carson

Taylor Hawkins was the drummer for the Foo Fighters. He died last week at the age of 50.

Steve Wilhite invented the GIF (some people pronounce it “jif” and others “gif”). He died last week at the age of 74.

Scoey Mitchell was a comic and actor who starred in the TV version of Barefoot in the Park and had regular roles on Rhoda, Laugh-In, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. He also appeared on many variety shows and game shows. He died Saturday at the age of 92.

Marvin J. Chomsky directed episodes of Star Trek, Roots, Holocaust, Maya, Mission: Impossible, and The Wild, Wild West. He also directed movies like Evel Knievel, Tank, Brinks: The Great Robbery, and Victory at Entebbe. He died Monday at the age of 92.

Joan Joyce was not only a star softball pitcher (she once struck out Ted Williams) and a pro golfer and coach, she was also great at volleyball and basketball and a member of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. She died Saturday at the age of 81.

Pepper Martin was a pro wrestler-turned-actor who movie fans will remember as the trucker who beats up Clark Kent in the diner in Superman II. He also appeared in dozens of other movies and TV shows, including a regular role on City of Angels. He died last week at the age of 85.

John Roach was one of the people responsible for putting personal computers in our homes by introducing Radio Shack’s TRS-80 computer. He died Sunday at the age of 83.

Lawrence Dane appeared in an incredible number of TV shows and movies. He died last week at the age of 84.

Jeff Carson had country hits in the 1990s, including “Not on Your Love” and “The Car.” He later became a police officer and had recently returned to the studio to record more music. He died last week at the age of 58.

This Week in History

Singin’ in the Rain Released (March 27, 1952)

Gene Kelly was sick with a temperature of 103 (!) when he performed the classic dance while drenched in water. It was re-created, with a modern twist, for this 2005 Volkswagen commercial.

LBJ Announces He Won’t Run Again (March 31, 1968)

Uploaded to YouTube by C-SPAN

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “A Family Computer Album” (April 1, 1981)

The computer used by the first family featured in this story is Mr. Roach’s TRS-80.

April Is BLT Sandwich Month

Believe it or not, the BLT was invented by Norman Rockwell! He was in his studio, on deadline for the next Post cover he was creating, when he realized he hadn’t had lunch yet. All he had in his fridge were some left over bacon, lima beans, and tomatoes. He put them together (yes, the L originally stood for lima beans) on some white bread with some mayo. He thought it was pretty good but a few weeks later when he made the sandwich again, he replaced the lima beans with crisp lettuce. He called his creation the BLT and the rest is history.

Here’s a recipe for the Classic BLT from Food.com. If that isn’t exciting enough for you, there are some twists on the classic, like this Super BLT from AllRecipes that has cream cheese; this BLT Sandwich from The Purple Pumpkin Blog that features avocado and Greek yogurt; the Not Your Mama’s BLT from White Lights on Wednesday that has provolone cheese and garlic; or this BLT Pizza with White Sauce from MyRecipes.

By the way, if you believed that story about Rockwell, please note what day it is.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

New Beer’s Eve (April 6)

This night is so named because the next day, April 7, is National Beer Day. (I wouldn’t try to get either day off from work though.)

The Masters Tournament (April 7-10)

The 86th event takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club. It airs at various times on ESPN and CBS. It’s also going to be on SiriusXM radio channel 92, if you like listening to golf on the radio.