What The Puck?

Whenever the great Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters are discussed, no one ever talks about Peter Puck. 36 years ago, the one- by three-inch cartoon superstar began appearing between periods of hockey games in both the U.S. and Canada (where he was a regular fixture on "Hockey Night in Canada", the Canadian equivalent of Monday Night Football). Peter did nine 3-1/2 minute essays explaining the rules of hockey and the nuances between major and minor penalties. I think it's pretty funny in one of the episodes where Pete mentions that fighting is not allowed. Yeah right. Here then is Peter Puck, Book I, giving the basic rules of the game.

I Can Lick You And Your Whole Family!

Hundreds of rabbits enter the scene. Hunter's befuddled. A little clarinet lick, and end title. So ended the 1938 cartoon "Hare-um Scare-um"...

...Or did it?

When Good Players Make Way For Great Players

What the ascent of Gary Sheffield in the Mets' fortunes meant to the player he ultimately replaced. This account is written by former major leaguer Doug Glanville, and the player in question is former Met Marlon Anderson.

"Hollywood Squares", Old School

Has there been a game show with as many different theme music variations as "The Hollywood Squares", considering all the versions that have aired over the years? I generally don't link to these sorts of videos on YouTube, but this one is an exception. This is an end-of-show cut of one of the earlier versions of the show theme. Entitled "The Silly Song", it was composed by veteran television and film composer Jimmie Haskell and was used on the show from 1966-1969. It was supplanted by the composition more identified with that version of "Squares", which was called "Merrill and Bob's Theme" (honoring producers Heatter and Quigley) and was composed by William Loose.

There were maybe a half dozen more theme songs for "Squares" in the ensuing years, but this one seemed to be the most fun.

Forget Susan Boyle!

This guy is much better. Unfortunately I can't embed the player so here is the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL6Cb_U34dI

If you want to see a similar guy do the same but with a tire tube (remember them?), here are two clips.

Ed, Johnny, and Don

It's a little odd that the New York Lottery has resurrected its commercial with three classic voiceover announcers - one of whom is dead, another of whom is frankly not doing well, and another of whom is Johnny Gilbert. This spot promotes Mega Millions, with the NY lottery's nebbish narrator outranking Gilbert, Ed McMahon and the late Don LaFontaine in popularity while eating at a diner. I don't believe I've posted it before, but here it is.





Why is Ed McMahon saying "Hi-yo"? Well, it's something he did say on the Tonight Show, but not his most famous phrase - that would be "Heeeeeeere's Johnny". Johnny Carson had a trademark on the phrase (according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, it was cancelled in 2002), but I suspect that Ed simply does not do that line in public any longer out of respect for his old boss.

James Earl Jones Counts to 10

Big shock at the end!

Mackey Mini Movies

Citi Field



Mr. Met (I may need to reupload this video)



Bob Interview (again)



Here are our pictures, posted on Facebook. You do not need to have a Facebook account to see these pix.

Game Over...

Little to cheer about from a Mets baseball standpoint today as the team lost its final exhibition game to the Boston Red Sox, 9-3.

But what a venue! As much as I've enjoyed my visits to Shea over the years, I really think the Mets have a winner here. Many seats very close to the action here, and the uppermost seats don't seem as lofty as they were at Shea. We'll soon be posting a link to the gallery of pictures I took today. However, we will most certainly learn more about this terrific ballpark on future visits.

Your New World Class Home

Greetings from Citi Field. Though we got here a little late the sun is trying to peek through. This is going to be a nice place to watch a game or two. We will have a more detailed report later. For now, LET'S GO METS!

Baseball Time

Tomorrow is the official start of the baseball season, but the new New York ball parks are having their shakedown cruises this weekend. Both the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are hosting games with the big-league clubs this weekend, and Robair and I will be at the Mets game today at Citi Field. We're really anxious to check out the new ballpark, even though it's going to be really windy and possibly showery. We'll have some pictures up here and maybe some Mini Mackey Movies up on YouTube.

The Mets won over the Red Sox last night, 4-3, at the first big-league action (albeit exhibition) in the park. Starting Monday you can watch the numbers on the no-hitter count start to rise again. Bring it on.

Happy Birthday

It's Aprll 2 and I would be derelict in my duties if I didn't wish a Happy Birthday to my good friend of two decades, Harry McCracken, former editor-in-chief of PC World Magazine and now operator of the Technologizer tech-info website.

Harry yesterday had an April Fool's piece on the site about the 45th anniversary of Technologizer. Back when it ran on mainframes and TRS-80's. There must be some reason he picked the number 45...

Additionally, Harry has been providing Technologizer-like content to his old home of PC World.

Solid as Santana

Great outing from Johan Santana today in a Mets pre-season game against the Braves. In five innings of work only gave up two hits, both of them in the fifth - a home run and a double.

For you newcomers (hello Facebook pals), both Mackey brothers have been Mets fans for the past 44 years or so. Optimistic old me thinks that this is the year we finally see a New York Mets no-hitter. This is a cause we've been taking up for the past several years, actually inspiring the creation by others of a more intensive site devoted to the quest, nonohitters.com. We will continue to update our counter on this website. I'm hoping this is the last year we even have a counter.

Three Little Bops Musicians

It took more than three of those little piggies to play Shorty Rogers' score for the 1956 Warner Bros. cartoon "Three Little Bops", which we discussed a while back. I found a credits listing on Wikipedia which you may take with a grain of salt as you should anything on Wikipedia.

The Shorty Rogers group was actually a sextet. At times the pigs are seen playing several different instruments depending on the scene.

Shorty Rogers is playing trumpet. That's the easy one.

Pete Jolly is playing piano, and Barney Kessel is definitely the guitarist.

The other instruments are a little more vague. The baritone sax is either Pepper Adams or Jimmy Giuffre (of "Four Brothers" fame). Drums may be Stan Levey or Shelly Manne; my money's on Manne just because of the whose West Coast Jazz brotherhood. (Manne's drumming is also heard on DePatie-Freleng cartoons of the late 60's.) Bass may be Red Mitchell or Red Callender, just call him Red.

And Milt Franklyn did slate the session - I finally tracked down the music-only tracks and he does indeed bellow "Production number 1429, the 'Three Little Bops'."

Dude, Where's My Blog?

Hi. Some of you may have noticed all my posts disappeared. Hopefully with this new post and republication we can get that fixed.

If you want to know how we did at the crossword tournament that wrapped up this weekend, please visit www.thepuzzlebrothers.com and see the whole report plus photo gallery.

Old UCC Commercial

I found this ancient commercial on YouTube. As you know, the United Church of Christ has been publicizing their "All The People" campaign, celebrating its status as an inclusive church where all are welcome. However, in the 1970's, the UCC wasn't quite as market-savvy as illustrated by this kiddie commercial that ran in many local avails that weren't already taken up by spots for Lite-Brite. The animation style probably inspired those Parker and Stone fellers to do their own version... ya think? Anyway here's the spot.



Aw, here's Lite Brite. They bought time. See the comments for a nice theory on who the voiceover for this spot is.

There's Trouble In ... Boston?

Some Boston University students performing the opening number to "The Music Man" on the T.

Globetrotters Then And Now

I grew up watching the Harlem Globetrotters during their golden era in the 1970's. Back then, it seemed the Globies were everywhere, including Saturday Mornings when they headlined no less than three different shows.

Happily, the 2009 Globetrotters, who appeared at the Izod Center today, may be different players, but they are the same in the two most important ways - their basketball skills and their wonderful regard for our children. Some of the routines are exactly the same as performed by Meadowlark and the rest of the 70s gang, but that's OK. I had a great time.

Frank Buxton On The Web

Mark Evanier so graciously pointed out that Frank Buxton, closest thing we have today to a modern-day renaissance man, now has his own website. Pursuant to this website, Frank Buxton is most notably the voice of Batfink.

Shea Stadium Almost Totally Gone

Construction crews continue the dismantling of Shea Stadium. In photos taken yesterday, you can see that there is only a small section of the old ballpark still standing, and lots of rubble yet to be carted away before the business of creating the new parking lot can begin. Meanwhile, the Atlas Van Lines truck took the Mets equipment away to the spring training headquarters, in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Pitchers and catchers report this week! Are you ready for some baseball?

UPDATE: Overhead pictures from Tom Kaminski again help make the scene complete.

UPDATE #2: All gone! (via No No-Hitters)